Virtu Financial LLC Acquires 1,598 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Virtu Financial LLC lifted its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 14.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 12,594 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,598 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Gentex by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 7,699,919 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $228,611,000 after acquiring an additional 111,500 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Gentex by 5.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,368,004 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $159,406,000 after purchasing an additional 285,802 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN lifted its position in Gentex by 5.5% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,493,914 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $133,424,000 after purchasing an additional 234,083 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Gentex by 179.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,000,796 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $59,404,000 after buying an additional 1,285,519 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Gentex Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of GNTX opened at $24.76 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.14. Gentex Co. has a 12-month low of $23.50 and a 12-month high of $36.46. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.07, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) 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 prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.