Van ECK Associates Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX – Get Rating) by 215.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,941 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,362 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Gentex were worth $653,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in Gentex by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 540,676 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $14,744,000 after buying an additional 6,094 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in Gentex by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 567,700 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $15,481,000 after buying an additional 11,700 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in Gentex by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 4,533,122 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $123,650,000 after buying an additional 85,153 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in Gentex by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 66,348 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,809,000 after buying an additional 2,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in Gentex by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 5,570,675 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $151,912,000 after buying an additional 82,690 shares during the last quarter. 83.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CTO Neil Boehm sold 1,242 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total transaction of $35,285.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 36,176 shares in the company, valued at $1,027,760.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 5,424 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total value of $151,275.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,861 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,390,623.29. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CTO Neil Boehm sold 1,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total value of $35,285.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 36,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,760.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 16,561 shares of company stock worth $466,490 over the last ninety days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gentex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GNTX opened at $28.22 on Monday. Gentex Co. has a 52-week low of $23.28 and a 52-week high of $31.48. The firm has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $27.31 and its 200 day moving average is $27.81.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The auto parts company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.04. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.02% and a net margin of 16.43%. The business had revenue of $550.76 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $529.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 1.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 7th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. Gentex’s payout ratio is 34.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on GNTX. StockNews.com began coverage on Gentex in a research report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. TheStreet raised Gentex from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Gentex Profile

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Gentex Corp. is a technology company, which engages in the design, development, and manufacture and supply of digital vision, connected car, dimmable glass, and fire protection products. It operates through the Automotive Products and Other segments. The Automotive Products segment operates in virtually all the foregoing facilities.