HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Position in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

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 increased its stake in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 85.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,226 shares of the auto parts company's stock after acquiring an additional 89,997 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Gentex worth $4,549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GNTX. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 1,471.0% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its position 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 valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 563 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 208.2% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 103.3% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,124 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares during the period. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 268,600.0% during the first quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 2,687 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 2,686 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GNTX. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 target price on Gentex in a research report on Friday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Gentex in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Gentex from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.63.

Gentex Price Performance

NASDAQ GNTX traded up $0.19 on Tuesday, hitting $28.28. The stock had a trading volume of 2,293,828 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,988,848. The business's fifty day moving average price is $24.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.50. 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 $6.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 0.82.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last released 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. Gentex had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The business had revenue of $657.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $591.94 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.37 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Gentex has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 8th. Gentex's payout ratio is currently 27.12%.

Gentex announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, July 16th that authorizes the company to buyback 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the auto parts company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.