Gentex Corporation $GNTX Position Raised by South Dakota Investment Council

South Dakota Investment Council raised its position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 22.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 421,137 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,996 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned about 0.20% of Gentex worth $9,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi bought a new stake in Gentex in the first quarter worth about $601,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Gentex by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC now owns 44,720 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,240 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Gentex by 69.0% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,142 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,283 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Gentex by 25.5% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 260,762 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $5,698,000 after purchasing an additional 52,961 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Gentex by 36.6% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 230,388 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,034,000 after buying an additional 61,749 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GNTX shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Gentex from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Gentex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 target price (down from $26.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, B. Riley Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (up from $28.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

Insider Activity at Gentex

In other news, Director Brian C. Walker sold 5,939 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.98, for a total transaction of $136,478.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,205 shares in the company, valued at $556,230.90. The trade was a 19.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 5,939 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.98, for a total value of $136,478.22. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Gentex Price Performance

GNTX opened at $23.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a PE ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 0.78. Gentex Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $20.48 and a fifty-two week high of $29.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $24.54 and a 200-day moving average of $23.51.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 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 analyst estimates of $669.65 million. Gentex had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.78%. Gentex’s quarterly revenue was down 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.43 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Gentex Corporation will post 1.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

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