Short Interest in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Rises By 9.9%

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,200,000 shares, an increase of 9.9% from the March 15th total of 3,820,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Gentex

In other news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,365.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $1,464,365.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 62,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,122,491.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gentex

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Gentex by 99,783.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,630,950 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $235,366,000 after acquiring an additional 8,622,309 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC raised its position in Gentex by 92.4% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,174,011 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $238,436,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925,355 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Gentex by 95.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,823,022 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $222,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330,502 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Gentex in the fourth quarter worth about $89,843,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in Gentex by 147.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,801,402 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $103,664,000 after acquiring an additional 2,266,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Price Performance

GNTX opened at $33.68 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $35.78 and its 200 day moving average is $32.96. Gentex has a fifty-two week low of $25.85 and a fifty-two week high of $37.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.99.

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

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is 26.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

About Gentex

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.