Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 11,435 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 521,566 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 11,435 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of Gentex worth $14,985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 179.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,000,796 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $59,404,000 after acquiring an additional 1,285,519 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 5.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,368,004 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $159,406,000 after acquiring an additional 285,802 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 54.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 107,930 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,205,000 after acquiring an additional 38,027 shares during the period. Reinhart Partners LLC. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,124,403 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $32,304,000 after acquiring an additional 20,624 shares during the period. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Hendershot Investments Inc. now owns 659,066 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $18,935,000 after acquiring an additional 24,231 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gentex Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX opened at $24.52 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $5.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.91. Gentex Co. has a 12 month low of $24.10 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $26.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.96.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.10). Gentex had a net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 price objective on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Gentex from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $32.50 price objective (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.31.

Gentex 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.