Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Short Interest Update

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,810,000 shares, a decrease of 11.0% from the January 15th total of 6,530,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,580,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Gentex from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 price objective (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Gentex from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gentex

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning grew its stake in Gentex by 27.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 77,519 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,302,000 after buying an additional 16,834 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in Gentex by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 31,061 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 1,740 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Gentex during the 3rd quarter valued at $322,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in Gentex by 7.0% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 13,309 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.9% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 663,302 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $19,693,000 after purchasing an additional 12,418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GNTX traded up $0.29 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.77. 2,083,566 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,965,844. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.18. Gentex has a 12 month low of $24.35 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.63 billion, a PE ratio of 14.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.91.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Gentex will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Gentex’s payout ratio is presently 27.27%.

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.