Gentex Corporation $GNTX Shares Bought by HighTower Advisors LLC

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Gentex Corporation by 85.5%, acquiring 89,997 additional shares, bringing its total holdings to 195,226 shares valued at approximately $4.55 million.
• Gentex reported earnings per share of $0.47, exceeding analysts' expectations, and noted a 14.8% year-over-year increase in revenue during the quarter.
• The company has initiated a share repurchase program allowing the buyback of up to 40 million shares, signaling a belief by leadership that the stock is undervalued.

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 85.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 195,226 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 89,997 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC owned about 0.09% of Gentex worth $4,549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Gentex by 66.5% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 179,659 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $5,162,000 after purchasing an additional 71,729 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP bought a new position in Gentex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,339,211 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $67,206,000 after acquiring an additional 44,560 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,495,516 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $129,156,000 after purchasing an additional 192,375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Gentex by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 128,273 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $3,685,000 after purchasing an additional 9,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GNTX has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gentex in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. B. Riley upped their price target on Gentex from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 price objective on Gentex in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.63.

Gentex Price Performance

NASDAQ:GNTX traded down $0.1250 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $28.0350. The company's stock had a trading volume of 576,385 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,298,033. The business's fifty day moving average is $24.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.45. The stock has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.83 and a beta of 0.82. Gentex Corporation has a 1 year low of $20.28 and a 1 year high of $31.75.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.37 earnings per share. Gentex has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 16th that allows the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto parts company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 8th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Gentex's payout ratio is currently 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.