Ariel Investments LLC Purchases 687,329 Shares of Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Key Points

• Ariel Investments LLC has increased its stake in Gentex Corporation by 10.7%, now holding over 7 million shares, which represents about 1.9% of their overall portfolio.
• Gentex reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.47, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $0.39, with revenues reaching $657.86 million.
• The company has announced a stock buyback program allowing the purchase of 40 million shares, a move often interpreted as a sign that the board believes the stock is undervalued.

Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 10.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,082,055 shares of the auto parts company's stock after buying an additional 687,329 shares during the period. Gentex accounts for 1.9% of Ariel Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. Ariel Investments LLC owned 3.15% of Gentex worth $165,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GNTX. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Gentex by 29.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,236,718 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $64,261,000 after buying an additional 514,920 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Gentex by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 155,234 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,460,000 after buying an additional 41,649 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Gentex by 83.1% in the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 156,201 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $4,488,000 after buying an additional 70,912 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Gentex by 41.5% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 36,948 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,062,000 after buying an additional 10,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,907,000. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GNTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 price target on shares of Gentex in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gentex in a report on Friday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.63.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of Gentex stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,179,776 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,721,962. Gentex Corporation has a 52 week low of $20.28 and a 52 week high of $31.72. The stock has a market cap of $6.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.09 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.70.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $657.86 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $591.94 million. Gentex had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. Gentex has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 16th that permits the company to repurchase 40,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the auto parts company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Gentex's dividend payout ratio is 27.12%.

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.