Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Shares Acquired by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 162,104 shares of the auto parts company's stock after buying an additional 27,244 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.07% of Gentex worth $5,294,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Gentex by 123.6% during the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 665 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter worth about $46,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 371.3% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,738 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 2,157 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 283.3% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 3,066 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $100,000 after buying an additional 2,266 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lavaca Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex in the third quarter worth about $206,000. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gentex

In other Gentex news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.41% of the company's stock.

Gentex Price Performance

NASDAQ GNTX remained flat at $34.13 during trading hours on Friday. The company had a trading volume of 1,086,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,398,974. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.98. Gentex Co. has a 12 month low of $25.86 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $35.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.21.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.01). Gentex had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The firm had revenue of $590.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.38 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.42 EPS. Gentex's revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.41%. Gentex's payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GNTX. B. Riley upped their target price on Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. Guggenheim upped their target price on Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Gentex from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.83.

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.