SG Americas Securities LLC Invests $456,000 in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX)

SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 19,553 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $456,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Gentex by 162.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,249,230 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $150,810,000 after acquiring an additional 3,248,434 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gentex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $51,959,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Gentex by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,023,056 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $517,802,000 after purchasing an additional 1,038,912 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $24,479,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 66.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,657,397 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $47,617,000 after buying an additional 664,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Gentex news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction dated 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 now owns 5,939 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $135,824.93. The trade was a 38.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GNTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down previously from $31.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on Gentex from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.31.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of GNTX stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $21.99. The company had a trading volume of 2,853,152 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,852,541. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.38. Gentex Corporation has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $35.32. The company has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.81.

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

Gentex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 9th. Gentex's payout ratio is 28.07%.

About Gentex

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.