Sheets Smith Wealth Management Sells 968 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lowered its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 8.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,852 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 968 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Gentex were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in Gentex by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 930 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of Gentex by 123.6% in the 3rd quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,203 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Gentex in the 4th quarter valued at $46,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in Gentex by 371.3% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 2,738 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $89,000 after buying an additional 2,157 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its holdings in Gentex by 283.3% during the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 3,066 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $100,000 after acquiring an additional 2,266 shares in the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $446,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GNTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.83.

Gentex Price Performance

Gentex stock opened at $34.55 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.98. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $35.52 and a 200-day moving average of $33.24. Gentex Co. has a one year low of $25.86 and a one year high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $590.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.38 million. Gentex had a net margin of 18.77% and a return on equity of 19.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. Gentex’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

Gentex Company Profile

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.