Cooke & Bieler LP Decreases Stock Position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Cooke & Bieler LP reduced its position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,773,106 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 89,540 shares during the quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP owned approximately 1.66% of Gentex worth $108,401,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 2,419 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 593 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Gentex in the third quarter valued at $125,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Gentex by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,133 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $147,000 after purchasing an additional 3,152 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GNTX has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $32.50 target price (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim set a $30.00 target price on Gentex in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 target price on Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.81.

Gentex Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of GNTX stock opened at $26.02 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $26.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.68. Gentex Co. has a 12-month low of $23.63 and a 12-month high of $36.75. The firm has a market cap of $5.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 17.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.27%.

Gentex Company 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.