Voloridge Investment Management LLC Acquires 308,774 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 69.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 752,101 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 308,774 shares during the quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $21,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,311 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $80,079,000 after purchasing an additional 386,461 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 189,254 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 45,475 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gentex during the 4th quarter valued at $24,479,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Gentex during the 4th quarter valued at $10,868,000. Finally, BCGM Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Gentex by 64.2% during the 4th quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,743 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,630,000 after acquiring an additional 22,180 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GNTX. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Gentex from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 target price (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.31.

Gentex Trading Down 0.9%

GNTX opened at $21.96 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $22.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.87. Gentex Co. has a 1-year low of $20.28 and a 1-year high of $35.32. The company has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.48, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.85.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $576.77 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $578.68 million. Gentex had a net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The business’s revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.87, for a total value of $86,082.68. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,939 shares in the company, valued at $135,824.93. This represents a 38.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.