Oak Thistle LLC Buys 35,100 Shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Oak Thistle LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 102.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 69,491 shares of the auto parts company's stock after buying an additional 35,100 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC's holdings in Gentex were worth $1,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GNTX. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Gentex by 1,471.0% in the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,084 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 85.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 563 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Gentex by 138.8% during the fourth quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,139 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Gentex by 208.2% during the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,618 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 1,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 103.3% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,124 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GNTX shares. Industrial Alliance Securities set a $25.00 target price on shares of Gentex in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Baird R W cut Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $23.00 price objective (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.28.

Gentex Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of GNTX traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $23.60. The stock had a trading volume of 3,883,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,298,779. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.54. Gentex Corporation has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $33.05. The company has a market capitalization of $5.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.81.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.43. The firm had revenue of $576.77 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $578.68 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.11% and a net margin of 17.01%. The business's revenue was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. Gentex's payout ratio is 28.07%.

Gentex announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share 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 generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at $135,824.93. The trade was a 38.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company's stock.

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.