Ethic Inc. Acquires 29,861 Shares of Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Ethic Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 272.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 40,810 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 29,861 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Gentex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,613,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new stake in Gentex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $7,258,000. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new stake in Gentex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,422,000. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new stake in Gentex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $726,000. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in Gentex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,179,000. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Steven R. Downing sold 35,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $866,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 211,670 shares in the company, valued at $5,238,832.50. The trade was a 14.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Neil Boehm sold 11,248 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.82, for a total value of $279,175.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer owned 58,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,463,163.82. This represents a 16.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 62,948 shares of company stock worth $1,554,550 in the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gentex from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. UBS Group set a $26.00 target price on Gentex in a report on Sunday, April 26th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Freedom Capital upgraded Gentex to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gentex in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.83.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of Gentex stock opened at $23.41 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $22.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.08. Gentex Corporation has a one year low of $20.48 and a one year high of $29.38.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.04. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.27% and a net margin of 14.75%.The firm had revenue of $675.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $649.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Gentex Corporation will post 1.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 8th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Gentex’s payout ratio is presently 26.97%.

Gentex Profile

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of automotive and aerospace products. The company’s primary business centers on automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and camera-based driver monitoring technologies. In the automotive sector, Gentex supplies exterior and interior mirrors with integrated electronics, connectivity features, and safety capabilities to many of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).