First Trust Advisors LP Has $25.24 Million Position in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 51.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,155,278 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 394,778 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Gentex were worth $25,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Gentex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 2,299.0% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,399 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 2,299 shares during the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Gentex by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 2,479 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $58,000 after purchasing an additional 437 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gentex

In other Gentex news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 5,939 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.98, for a total value of $136,478.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 4,815 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.31, for a total transaction of $112,237.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 81,443 shares in the company, valued at $1,898,436.33. The trade was a 5.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 16,693 shares of company stock valued at $385,194 in the last quarter. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GNTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Gentex from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gentex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Gentex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Gentex Trading Up 4.9%

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $24.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.72 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $23.51. Gentex Corporation has a 1 year low of $20.48 and a 1 year high of $29.38.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $651.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.65 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 15.50%.The business’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.43 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 1.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 8th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

About Gentex

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).