Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 28.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 98,081 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,802 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $2,285,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GNTX. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Gentex by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,023,056 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $517,802,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038,912 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in Gentex by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,516,817 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $158,498,000 after buying an additional 86,929 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gentex by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,423,820 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $155,861,000 after acquiring an additional 55,816 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,415,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $155,598,000 after acquiring an additional 356,854 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 162.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,249,230 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $150,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,248,434 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price target (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Gentex from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Gentex from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.31.

Insider Transactions at Gentex

In other news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.87, for a total transaction of $86,082.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $135,824.93. This represents a 38.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of Gentex stock opened at $22.07 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.79. Gentex Co. has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $35.32.

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, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $576.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $578.68 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 17.49%. Gentex’s quarterly revenue was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.07%.

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.