Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 65.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,993 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,540 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $1,517,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Gentex by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,280,716 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $727,688,000 after acquiring an additional 163,373 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Gentex by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,728,378 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $285,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,905,356 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,169,029 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $136,160,000 after purchasing an additional 325,687 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Gentex by 58.1% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 3,313,757 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $108,227,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Gentex in the fourth quarter worth about $89,843,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, June 16th. B. Riley lifted 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. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.83.

Insider Activity at Gentex

In other news, Director Joseph B. Anderson, Jr. sold 4,716 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.46, for a total value of $162,513.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,764 shares in the company, valued at $129,707.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX opened at $33.71 on Friday. Gentex Co. has a 12-month low of $27.86 and a 12-month high of $37.58. The company has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.34.

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

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.