Royce & Associates LP Purchases 74,380 Shares of Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Royce & Associates LP grew its position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 70.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 179,338 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 74,380 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Gentex were worth $4,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GNTX. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 10.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,828,120 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $419,636,000 after acquiring an additional 1,383,203 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 21.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 6,725,426 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $190,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,206,060 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Gentex by 199.3% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,741,518 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $49,285,000 after buying an additional 1,159,718 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Gentex in the third quarter worth about $31,926,000. Finally, Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec purchased a new stake in Gentex in the third quarter worth about $22,420,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gentex

In other Gentex news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 5,939 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.98, for a total transaction of $136,478.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 4,815 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total transaction of $112,237.65. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 81,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,898,436.33. This represents a 5.58% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 16,693 shares of company stock valued at $385,194. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GNTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Gentex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Gentex from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $26.00 price objective on shares of Gentex in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (up from $28.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Monday, April 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gentex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.83.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX opened at $24.16 on Friday. Gentex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $20.48 and a fifty-two week high of $29.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.09. The stock has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 0.78.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. Gentex had a net margin of 14.75% and a return on equity of 16.27%. The business had revenue of $675.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $649.42 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Gentex Corporation will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.97%.

Gentex Profile

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of automotive and aerospace products. The company’s primary business centers on automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and camera-based driver monitoring technologies. In the automotive sector, Gentex supplies exterior and interior mirrors with integrated electronics, connectivity features, and safety capabilities to many of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).