Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC Raises Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,585 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 907 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Gentex by 95.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,823,022 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $222,021,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,502 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 2.5% during the third quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,843,342 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $125,062,000 after buying an additional 93,104 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 3.3% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,356,505 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $76,681,000 after buying an additional 76,071 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in Gentex by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,096,479 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $68,219,000 after acquiring an additional 27,279 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Gentex by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,951,077 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $63,488,000 after acquiring an additional 36,461 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX opened at $34.66 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.27. Gentex Co. has a 52 week low of $25.86 and a 52 week high of $37.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.98.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). Gentex had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 18.77%. The firm had revenue of $590.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $600.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.42 EPS. Gentex’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.38%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insider Transactions at Gentex

In related news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $446,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on GNTX shares. B. Riley lifted their target price on Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gentex presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.