Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Takes Position in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 4,427 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $110,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rhumbline Advisers grew its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 8.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 128,896 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,213,000 after purchasing an additional 9,979 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 2,880.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 26,351 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $657,000 after purchasing an additional 25,467 shares during the last quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division grew its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 68.0% in the first quarter. Central Pacific Bank Trust Division now owns 4,200 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 17.7% in the fourth quarter. Probity Advisors Inc. now owns 10,671 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $331,000 after purchasing an additional 1,603 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Standard Motor Products by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 45,660 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,415,000 after buying an additional 1,388 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Standard Motor Products Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NYSE:SMP opened at $30.11 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $661.85 million, a P/E ratio of 18.59 and a beta of 0.65. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.38 and a 1 year high of $35.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.25 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.94.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $413.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.38 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.45 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.31 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.12%. This is an increase from Standard Motor Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded Standard Motor Products from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

About Standard Motor Products

Standard Motor Products, Inc manufactures and distributes replacement automotive parts in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Vehicle Control, Temperature Control, and Engineered Solutions segments. The company provides components for the ignition, emissions, and fuel delivery systems, such as air injection and induction components, air management valves, regulators and solenoids, exhaust gas recirculation components, fuel injectors and related components, fuel valves, ignition coils, connectors and sockets, modules, pumps, relays and fuses, starting and charging system parts, and vapor and purge components.