Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Cuts Stock Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc decreased its holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 34.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 74,547 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 39,319 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc's holdings in Gentex were worth $2,142,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GNTX. Midwest Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Gentex by 138.8% in the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Gentex during the 4th quarter worth about $96,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Gentex from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Gentex from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird restated a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.87, for a total transaction of $86,082.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,939 shares of the company's stock, valued at $135,824.93. This represents a 38.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Gentex Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $23.04. 2,097,574 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,784,458. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.03. The stock has a market cap of $5.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.09, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.85. Gentex Co. has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $35.32.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.43. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 17.49%. The company had revenue of $576.77 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $578.68 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. Gentex's payout ratio is 28.07%.

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.