Van ECK Associates Corp Trims Position in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 38.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,941 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 117,864 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Gentex were worth $4,825,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. XXEC Inc. purchased a new stake in Gentex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $7,705,220,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Gentex during the 2nd quarter worth $550,287,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Gentex by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,828,120 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $419,636,000 after purchasing an additional 1,383,203 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Gentex by 14,398.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 7,726,057 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $179,785,000 after purchasing an additional 7,672,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Gentex by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,463,299 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $163,067,000 after buying an additional 833,919 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings raised Gentex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Freedom Capital cut Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (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 report on Sunday, July 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.80.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of Gentex stock opened at $22.86 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.43. Gentex Corporation has a 12 month low of $20.48 and a 12 month high of $29.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.10 and a beta of 0.80.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $651.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.65 million. Gentex had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.78%. Gentex’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.43 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

Gentex Company 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).