Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys New Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 65,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,139,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GNTX. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its position in Gentex by 414.3% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 900 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 725 shares during the period. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its position in Gentex by 123.6% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Gentex by 79.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,887 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 834 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Gentex by 31.7% in the first quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,774 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Gentex by 371.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,738 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 2,157 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,122,491.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total value of $204,326.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,122,491.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX stock opened at $33.51 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $35.76 and its 200-day moving average is $32.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.99. Gentex Co. has a 52 week low of $25.85 and a 52 week high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. Gentex had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 18.63%. The business had revenue of $589.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GNTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley increased their target price on Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.83.

About Gentex

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.