Harfst & Associates Inc. Acquires 2,721 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Harfst & Associates Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 74,536 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,721 shares during the period. Harfst & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $2,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.5% during the third quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 7,699,919 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $228,611,000 after buying an additional 111,500 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 5.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,368,004 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $159,406,000 after buying an additional 285,802 shares in the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 5.5% during the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,493,914 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $133,424,000 after buying an additional 234,083 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,311 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $80,079,000 after buying an additional 386,461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 179.7% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,000,796 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $59,404,000 after buying an additional 1,285,519 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GNTX. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Gentex from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 price objective on Gentex in a report on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 price objective (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gentex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.31.

Gentex Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of GNTX opened at $24.52 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.96. Gentex Co. has a 12 month low of $24.10 and a 12 month high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.10). Gentex had a net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.