Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) Shares Acquired by Victory Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Gentex Corporation by 26.8% during Q1, acquiring an additional 19,799 shares, bringing its total holdings to 93,735 shares valued at approximately $2.18 million.
• Gentex's board has authorized a share buyback program allowing the company to repurchase up to 40 million shares, indicating confidence in the stock's value.
• The company recently reported a net margin of 16.82% and a revenue increase of 14.8% year-over-year, reflecting strong financial performance with an EPS of $0.47 for the last quarter.

Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 26.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,735 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,799 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Gentex were worth $2,184,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 6.1% during 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. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 5,516,817 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $158,498,000 after purchasing an additional 86,929 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,423,820 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $155,861,000 after purchasing an additional 55,816 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Gentex by 162.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,249,230 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $150,810,000 after purchasing an additional 3,248,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 192,375 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Gentex

In other Gentex news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 3,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.87, for a total transaction of $86,082.68. Following the sale, the director directly owned 5,939 shares in the company, valued at $135,824.93. This represents a 38.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on GNTX shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Gentex from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Baird R W cut shares of Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Gentex from $23.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Gentex in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, B. Riley upped their price objective on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.63.

Gentex Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of Gentex stock traded down $0.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $26.21. The stock had a trading volume of 577,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,339,049. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.51. Gentex Corporation has a 12-month low of $20.28 and a 12-month high of $31.75. The firm has a market cap of $5.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.83 and a beta of 0.81.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $591.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Gentex's dividend payout ratio is 27.12%.

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.