OLD National Bancorp IN Reduces Stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

OLD National Bancorp IN reduced its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 51.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,953 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 8,472 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Gentex were worth $260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in Gentex by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 9,466 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 1,610 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in Gentex by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 29,654 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $968,000 after buying an additional 3,174 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Gentex by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 51,523 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,683,000 after buying an additional 4,221 shares in the last quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Gentex by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Hamilton Point Investment Advisors LLC now owns 202,743 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $6,622,000 after buying an additional 3,345 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oak Family Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Gentex by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Oak Family Advisors LLC now owns 213,378 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $6,969,000 after buying an additional 12,913 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. B. Riley increased their price target on Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gentex

In other Gentex news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total value of $204,326.46. Following the sale, the director now owns 62,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,122,491.15. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total value of $204,326.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 62,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,122,491.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.41% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of Gentex stock opened at $34.65 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $35.68 and a 200 day moving average of $33.06. Gentex Co. has a 12 month low of $25.85 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.99.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. Gentex had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 18.63%. The company had revenue of $589.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.42 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.37 EPS. Gentex’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gentex Co. will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.09%.

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.