Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 16,962 Shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 13.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 146,178 shares of the auto parts company's stock after acquiring an additional 16,962 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers owned 0.06% of Gentex worth $3,406,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 85.4% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 1,222 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 563 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its holdings in Gentex by 1.1% during the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 54,440 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,268,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Gentex by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 63,700 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,484,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 10,641 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Gentex by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 126,325 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $3,629,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GNTX shares. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 price objective on Gentex in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. B. Riley upped their target price on 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 Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Gentex from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gentex news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.87, for a total value of $86,082.68. Following the sale, the director owned 5,939 shares in the company, valued at $135,824.93. The trade was a 38.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

Gentex Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $26.61. The company had a trading volume of 2,987,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,355,001. The company has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.03 and a beta of 0.82. Gentex Corporation has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $31.75. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $23.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.46.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $657.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $591.94 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.86% and a net margin of 16.82%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.37 EPS. Gentex's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. Gentex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.12%.

Gentex declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, July 16th that allows the company to buyback 40,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the auto parts company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Gentex 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.