Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) Short Interest Update

Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 471,500 shares, an increase of 21.0% from the June 30th total of 389,700 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 167,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.8 days. Currently, 2.3% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of Standard Motor Products

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SMP. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 3,928.4% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 4,673 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 4,557 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 1st quarter worth approximately $205,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the 4th quarter worth approximately $218,000. Institutional investors own 81.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Standard Motor Products in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd.

Standard Motor Products Stock Performance

Shares of SMP traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $32.36. The stock had a trading volume of 113,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 145,206. The company has a market cap of $706.10 million, a PE ratio of 23.28 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Standard Motor Products has a fifty-two week low of $26.09 and a fifty-two week high of $41.71.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The auto parts company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $331.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $321.84 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 9.48% and a net margin of 2.28%. The business’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Standard Motor Products will post 2.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Standard Motor Products Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th were issued a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. Standard Motor Products’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 83.45%.

Standard Motor Products Company Profile

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.