Bank of Nova Scotia Reduces Stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Bank of Nova Scotia lowered its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX – Get Rating) by 60.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,371 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 17,510 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia’s holdings in Gentex were worth $310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in Gentex by 1.3% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 100,684 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 51.7% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 19,150 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $522,000 after buying an additional 6,530 shares during the period. Simmons Bank purchased a new position in shares of Gentex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 1.3% during the third quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 212,860 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $5,075,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 309,186 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $8,432,000 after buying an additional 1,358 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. TheStreet upgraded Gentex from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Friday, January 27th. StockNews.com started coverage on Gentex in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.00.

Gentex Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GNTX opened at $26.60 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.92. Gentex Co. has a 52 week low of $23.28 and a 52 week high of $31.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.36 and a 200 day moving average of $27.89.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 28th. The auto parts company reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $550.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $529.59 million. Gentex had a net margin of 16.43% and a return on equity of 16.02%. Gentex’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 7th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 5th. Gentex’s payout ratio is presently 34.04%.

Insider Transactions at Gentex

In other news, CTO Neil Boehm sold 1,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total transaction of $35,285.22. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 36,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,760.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CTO Neil Boehm sold 1,242 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.41, for a total transaction of $35,285.22. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 36,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,760.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 5,424 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.89, for a total transaction of $151,275.36. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 49,861 shares in the company, valued at $1,390,623.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,082 shares of company stock valued at $311,401. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

About Gentex

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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.