KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys 3,700 Shares of Gentex Corporation $GNTX

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 68,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,700 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Gentex were worth $1,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,581,938 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $526,159,000 after purchasing an additional 886,785 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 7,728,209 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $180,067,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211,392 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,673,701 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $178,797,000 after purchasing an additional 2,424,471 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Gentex by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 7,082,055 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $165,012,000 after purchasing an additional 687,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Gentex by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,655,948 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $108,482,000 after purchasing an additional 160,432 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gentex Stock Up 1.1%

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $25.90 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.33. Gentex Corporation has a 12-month low of $20.28 and a 12-month high of $31.48. The firm has a market cap of $5.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63 and a beta of 0.84.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.08. Gentex had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business had revenue of $657.86 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $591.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Gentex has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts expect that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 8th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.12%.

Gentex announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 16th that permits the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the auto parts company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 price target on shares of Gentex in a research report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $32.00 target price on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gentex in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, B. Riley upped their target price on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.14.

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.