1,861,677 Shares in Gentex Corporation $GNTX Bought by Freestone Grove Partners LP

Key Points

• Freestone Grove Partners acquired 1,861,677 Gentex shares worth approximately $47 million, representing about 0.87% of the company. Several other institutional investors also initiated positions, with institutions and hedge funds owning 86.76% of Gentex.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautious: one analyst rates Gentex a Buy while seven assign Hold ratings. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.80.
• Gentex exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $0.58 versus the $0.50 consensus, although revenue declined 1% year over year to $651.3 million. The company also maintains a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share, yielding about 2% annually.

Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new stake in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 1,861,677 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $47,045,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP owned about 0.87% of Gentex at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new stake in shares of Gentex during the second quarter worth about $79,924,000. Odyssean LLC bought a new position in Gentex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $789,000. Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Gentex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $7,361,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in Gentex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,501,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Gentex during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,203,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gentex from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Freedom Capital downgraded Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $25.00 target price (down from $26.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Gentex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $26.80.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX opened at $23.87 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.79. Gentex Corporation has a 52-week low of $20.48 and a 52-week high of $29.38. The company's 50 day moving average price is $24.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.48.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. Gentex had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $651.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $669.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. Gentex's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 8th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. Gentex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

About Gentex

Gentex Corporation NASDAQ: GNTX is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of automotive and aerospace products. The company's primary business centers on automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and camera-based driver monitoring technologies. In the automotive sector, Gentex supplies exterior and interior mirrors with integrated electronics, connectivity features, and safety capabilities to many of the world's leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

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