Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Stake Lessened by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. lessened its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 57.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,957 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 21,718 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $458,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GNTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 162.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,249,230 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $150,810,000 after buying an additional 3,248,434 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter worth $51,959,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,023,056 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $517,802,000 after buying an additional 1,038,912 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter worth $24,479,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 66.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,657,397 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $47,617,000 after buying an additional 664,389 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on GNTX shares. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.31.

Gentex Stock Performance

Gentex stock opened at $22.67 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.85. Gentex Co. has a one year low of $20.28 and a one year high of $35.32.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.43 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. The business had revenue of $576.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.68 million. Gentex had a net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.07%.

Gentex Profile

Gentex Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supplies digital vision, connected car, dimmable glass, and fire protection products in the United States, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, and internationally. It operates through Automotive Products and Other segments. The company offers automotive products, including interior and exterior electrochromic automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, automotive electronics, and non-automatic-dimming rearview mirrors for automotive passenger cars, light trucks, pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles, and vans for original equipment manufacturers, automotive suppliers, and various aftermarket and accessory customers.