Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Reduces Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC decreased its holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 26,030 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 425 shares during the quarter. Uncommon Cents Investing LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Gentex by 8.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 45,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,332,000 after acquiring an additional 3,492 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Gentex by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 86,682 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,529,000 after acquiring an additional 8,265 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Gentex by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 20,990,163 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $612,282,000 after acquiring an additional 190,797 shares during the period. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in Gentex by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 137,269 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,117,000 after acquiring an additional 12,625 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of Gentex by 40.9% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,688 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $253,000 after buying an additional 2,524 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GNTX. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Gentex from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.67.

Gentex Stock Performance

NASDAQ GNTX traded down $0.19 on Thursday, hitting $36.12. 1,178,940 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,454,666. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.99. Gentex Co. has a 52-week low of $25.85 and a 52-week high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $589.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $563.42 million. Gentex had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 19.25%. Gentex’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.37 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.09%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 62,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,122,491.15. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total value of $204,326.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 62,555 shares in the company, valued at $2,122,491.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of Gentex 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,365.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.