Legal & General Group Plc Purchases New Stake in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 324,706 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,205,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.15% of Gentex as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Gentex during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in Gentex by 2,299.0% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,399 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 2,299 shares during the period. Arax Advisory Partners bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in shares of Gentex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GNTX opened at $22.13 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $23.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 0.80. Gentex Corporation has a 12-month low of $20.48 and a 12-month high of $29.38.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.08. Gentex had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 15.50%.The firm had revenue of $651.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $669.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.43 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 7th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is 25.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Gentex from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 10th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $25.00 price objective (down from $26.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gentex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.80.

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).