324,706 Shares in Gentex Corporation $GNTX Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

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

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 377,484 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $8,784,000 after purchasing an additional 137,245 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 2,636.4% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 799,243 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $18,598,000 after buying an additional 770,035 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 25,026.7% during the first quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 188,450 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $4,118,000 after buying an additional 187,700 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Gentex by 3,905.8% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 700,693 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $16,305,000 after buying an additional 683,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Gentex in the 2nd quarter worth about $3,411,000. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GNTX. 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. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. 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 report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Gentex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.80.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of GNTX opened at $22.13 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $23.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.44. Gentex Corporation has a 1 year low of $20.48 and a 1 year high of $29.38.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $651.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 7th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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).