Vontobel Holding Ltd. Purchases New Stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,323 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Portfolio Design Labs LLC acquired a new stake in Gentex during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Lightrock Netherlands B.V. acquired a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at $9,443,000. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at $290,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Gentex by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 22,819 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $656,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hendershot Investments Inc. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 24,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GNTX shares. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Gentex from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 price objective (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gentex from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.06.

Gentex Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ:GNTX opened at $24.37 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a PE ratio of 13.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.08. Gentex Co. has a 12-month low of $24.20 and a 12-month high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.10). Gentex had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 17.49%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 8th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 8th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.27%.

About Gentex

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.