Cooke & Bieler LP Trims Stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Cooke & Bieler LP decreased its position in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,773,106 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 89,540 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Gentex were worth $108,401,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GNTX. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 28,940 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $859,000 after acquiring an additional 577 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 43,776 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,300,000 after acquiring an additional 4,080 shares during the period. XXEC Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 35.0% during the 3rd quarter. XXEC Inc. now owns 172,306 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,116,000 after acquiring an additional 44,652 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gentex during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $507,000. Finally, Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 15.6% during the 3rd quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 580,111 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $17,223,000 after acquiring an additional 78,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GNTX. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 price target (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 price target on Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim set a $30.00 price target on Gentex in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.81.

Gentex Trading Up 2.5 %

GNTX stock opened at $26.02 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.91 billion, a PE ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. Gentex Co. has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $36.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.68.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.10). Gentex had a net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. Gentex’s payout ratio is 27.27%.

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.