StockNews.com Lowers Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Monday.

GNTX has been the topic of several other research reports. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley increased their price objective on Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Gentex currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $37.83.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GNTX opened at $33.96 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.99. Gentex has a 12 month low of $25.86 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $35.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.15.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.01). Gentex had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 18.77%. The firm had revenue of $590.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gentex will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gentex

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 1.7% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 20,068 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $653,000 after purchasing an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 50,311 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Gentex by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 69,808 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,280,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the period. Finally, Lincoln National Corp raised its position in Gentex by 2.3% in the third quarter. Lincoln National Corp now owns 17,940 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $584,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Company 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.