60,669 Shares in Gentex Corporation $GNTX Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Key Points

• Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired 60,669 Gentex shares worth approximately $1.53 million. Institutional investors collectively own 86.76% of the company.
• Analysts remain largely cautious: Gentex has a consensus “Hold” rating from eight analysts and an average price target of $26.80, with several firms recently lowering targets or downgrading the stock.
• Gentex beat quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $0.58 versus the $0.50 consensus, though revenue fell 1% year over year to $651.3 million. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.12 per share, representing a 2.1% annualized yield.

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 60,669 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $1,533,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Gentex by 33.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 189,561 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,418,000 after purchasing an additional 47,150 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Gentex by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,321,634 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $30,794,000 after buying an additional 23,454 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Gentex by 255.6% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 81,142 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,891,000 after buying an additional 58,323 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Gentex by 8.0% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 813,163 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $17,881,000 after acquiring an additional 60,127 shares during the period. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Gentex by 2,038.4% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,512 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 4,301 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GNTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on 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 Gentex from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Gentex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Freedom Capital downgraded Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $26.80.

Gentex Price Performance

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $23.14 on Tuesday. Gentex Corporation has a 1-year low of $20.48 and a 1-year high of $29.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.93 billion, a PE ratio of 12.24 and a beta of 0.80.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $651.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $669.65 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 15.50%.The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 2.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Gentex's dividend payout ratio 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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