Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Sells 46,221 Shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP - Free Report) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 246,291 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 46,221 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.13% of Standard Motor Products worth $7,630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Standard Motor Products in the third quarter worth about $3,876,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Standard Motor Products by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 331,078 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $10,257,000 after buying an additional 69,717 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Standard Motor Products by 359.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 48,522 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,609,000 after acquiring an additional 37,971 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Standard Motor Products by 5.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 485,299 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $16,115,000 after acquiring an additional 27,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC increased its position in Standard Motor Products by 274.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 37,119 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,232,000 after purchasing an additional 27,210 shares during the period. 81.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of Standard Motor Products from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Standard Motor Products

In other news, EVP Dale Burks sold 11,005 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total transaction of $299,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 56,860 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,546,592. This represents a 16.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 5.00% of the company's stock.

Standard Motor Products Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of SMP traded down $0.21 on Thursday, hitting $25.76. 264,770 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 145,468. Standard Motor Products, Inc. has a one year low of $25.56 and a one year high of $35.92. The company has a market capitalization of $563.06 million, a PE ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 2.25.

Standard Motor Products (NYSE:SMP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $343.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $292.50 million. Standard Motor Products had a return on equity of 10.42% and a net margin of 2.56%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Standard Motor Products, Inc. will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Standard Motor Products Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.29 dividend. This represents a $1.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Standard Motor Products's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.81%.

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.