Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 7,520 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,366 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,520 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC owned 0.12% of Gentex worth $7,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,446 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Gentex by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 65,805 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,891,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Gentex by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,445 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $214,000 after purchasing an additional 457 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its position in Gentex by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 2,419 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares during the period. Finally, Toronto Dominion Bank raised its position in Gentex by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 40,721 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GNTX. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 price objective (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 target price on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim set a $30.00 target price on shares of Gentex in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.81.

Gentex Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of GNTX stock opened at $24.09 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average is $25.59 and its 200 day moving average is $28.33. Gentex Co. has a 52-week low of $23.50 and a 52-week high of $36.75.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. Gentex’s payout ratio is 27.27%.

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.