Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,581,938 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 886,785 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.98% of Gentex worth $526,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Gentex by 0.4% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 523,489 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $12,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,923 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in Gentex in the fourth quarter worth about $10,868,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Gentex by 5.9% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 219,454 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,113,000 after purchasing an additional 12,168 shares during the last quarter. Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Gentex in the first quarter worth about $359,000. Finally, Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. boosted its position in Gentex by 18.3% in the first quarter. Speece Thorson Capital Group Inc. now owns 682,684 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $15,907,000 after purchasing an additional 105,446 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gentex Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $27.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $23.82 and its 200 day moving average is $23.44. Gentex Corporation has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $31.75. The stock has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.64 and a beta of 0.82.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.08. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.82%. The company had revenue of $657.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $591.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 16th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto parts company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Gentex’s payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GNTX has been the topic of several research reports. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 target price on Gentex in a research report on Friday, July 11th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Gentex from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Gentex in a research report on Friday, July 11th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on Gentex from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gentex from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.63.

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.