Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 111,541 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,857 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.49% of Standard Motor Products worth $2,781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Standard Motor Products by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,655,886 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $51,299,000 after acquiring an additional 69,000 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its position in Standard Motor Products by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 717,457 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $22,227,000 after purchasing an additional 32,197 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Standard Motor Products by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 497,258 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,405,000 after purchasing an additional 86,640 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Standard Motor Products by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 494,489 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $15,323,000 after purchasing an additional 9,190 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 334,037 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $10,348,000 after purchasing an additional 12,379 shares in the last quarter. 81.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

Shares of SMP stock opened at $31.46 on Friday. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a 1-year low of $21.38 and a 1-year high of $35.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. The company has a market capitalization of $691.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.88.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The auto parts company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.37. The firm had revenue of $413.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.38 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 2.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. This is a positive change from Standard Motor Products’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.29. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio is currently 88.57%.

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.