Raymond James Financial Inc. Increases Position in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Gentex Corporation by 13.5%, owning a total of 967,465 shares valued at approximately $22.54 million at the end of the recent quarter.
• Gentex recently reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.47, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.39, along with a quarterly revenue of $657.86 million, a 14.8% increase from the previous year.
• The company has initiated a stock buyback program authorizing the repurchase of 40 million shares, indicating confidence in its stock valuation.

Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 13.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 967,465 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 115,443 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.43% of Gentex worth $22,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,581,938 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $526,159,000 after purchasing an additional 886,785 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 46.2% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,673,701 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $178,797,000 after purchasing an additional 2,424,471 shares in the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,516,817 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $158,498,000 after purchasing an additional 86,929 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,655,948 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $108,482,000 after purchasing an additional 160,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 148.5% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 4,119,232 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $95,978,000 after purchasing an additional 2,461,835 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX opened at $28.09 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 15.87 and a beta of 0.82. Gentex Corporation has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $31.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.47.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $657.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $591.94 million. Gentex had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 16.86%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 earnings per share. Gentex has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, July 16th that authorizes the company to repurchase 40,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the auto parts company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Gentex Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GNTX. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 20th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Gentex from $26.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a 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. B. Riley raised their target price on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Gentex in a report on Friday, July 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gentex has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.63.

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.

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