Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Sells 34,545 Shares of Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 412,003 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 34,545 shares during the period. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned about 0.19% of Gentex worth $11,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Addison Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Gentex during the first quarter worth $45,000. Steph & Co. bought a new stake in Gentex during the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Gentex by 34.4% in the 2nd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,854 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayforest Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex during the 2nd quarter worth $81,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GNTX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gentex in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (up previously from $28.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Monday, October 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $27.00 target price on Gentex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.29.

Gentex Price Performance

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $23.47 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $23.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $24.98. Gentex Corporation has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $29.52.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $570.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $661.10 million. Gentex had a net margin of 15.61% and a return on equity of 15.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. Research analysts expect that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 7th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.24%.

Gentex Profile

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of automotive and aerospace products. The company’s primary business centers on automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and camera-based driver monitoring technologies. In the automotive sector, Gentex supplies exterior and interior mirrors with integrated electronics, connectivity features, and safety capabilities to many of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).