Invesco LLC Boosts Position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Invesco LLC increased its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 20,797 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 1,141 shares during the period. Invesco LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Gentex in the 3rd quarter worth about $618,000. IFG Advisory LLC increased its stake in Gentex by 85.1% in the 4th quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 129,203 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,220,000 after buying an additional 59,407 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Gentex by 112.3% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 24,876 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 13,161 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC increased its position in Gentex by 130.7% during the 3rd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 123,805 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $4,029,000 after purchasing an additional 70,138 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in Gentex by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,951,077 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $63,488,000 after purchasing an additional 36,461 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Stock Performance

GNTX stock traded down $0.15 during trading on Monday, reaching $34.10. The company had a trading volume of 241,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,420,914. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.94. The company has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.99. Gentex Co. has a twelve month low of $25.85 and a twelve month high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $589.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.42 million. Gentex had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 19.25%. Gentex’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.37 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gentex news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Gentex news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 62,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,122,491.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,365.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GNTX has been the topic of a number of research reports. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.67.

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.