Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Shares Bought by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 268,366 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,520 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $7,710,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Gentex by 179.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,000,796 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $59,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,519 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Gentex by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,311 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $80,079,000 after buying an additional 386,461 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gentex by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,368,004 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $159,406,000 after buying an additional 285,802 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Gentex during the fourth quarter worth $24,479,000. Finally, BCGM Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Gentex by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,743 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,630,000 after buying an additional 22,180 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Gentex Stock Performance

GNTX opened at $24.09 on Friday. Gentex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.50 and a fifty-two week high of $36.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $25.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. 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.