Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Grows Holdings in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 1,301.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 236,956 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 220,049 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.11% of Gentex worth $6,706,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GNTX. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Gentex by 33.1% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 189,561 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,418,000 after acquiring an additional 47,150 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,321,634 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $30,794,000 after purchasing an additional 23,454 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 255.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 81,142 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 58,323 shares during the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 16.0% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 273,035 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $6,362,000 after purchasing an additional 37,594 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 17.0% in the second quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 5,744 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Gentex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $27.00 target price on shares of Gentex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target (up previously from $28.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gentex in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.29.

Gentex Stock Performance

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $23.98 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 0.78. Gentex Corporation has a one year low of $20.28 and a one year high of $29.38. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $23.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.21.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $570.32 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $661.10 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 15.86% and a net margin of 15.61%.Gentex’s revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 7th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.24%.

About Gentex

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of automotive and aerospace products. The company’s primary business centers on automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and camera-based driver monitoring technologies. In the automotive sector, Gentex supplies exterior and interior mirrors with integrated electronics, connectivity features, and safety capabilities to many of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).