Values First Advisors Inc. Buys 1,179 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Values First Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,331 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,179 shares during the quarter. Gentex accounts for 1.3% of Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $2,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Gentex by 99,783.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,630,950 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $235,366,000 after purchasing an additional 8,622,309 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC increased its stake in Gentex by 92.4% during the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,174,011 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $238,436,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,355 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Gentex by 95.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,823,022 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $222,021,000 after purchasing an additional 3,330,502 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Gentex by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 3,801,402 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $103,664,000 after acquiring an additional 2,266,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Gentex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,990,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GNTX shares. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Gentex from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.67.

Gentex Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $36.12. The company had a trading volume of 1,178,943 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,393,584. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.99. Gentex Co. has a 1-year low of $25.85 and a 1-year high of $37.58. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $35.14 and its 200-day moving average is $32.63.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $589.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $563.42 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 19.25% and a net margin of 18.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 2.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is 26.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Gentex

In other Gentex news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Gentex news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total value of $446,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 62,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,122,491.15. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.