Short Interest in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Rises By 9.9%

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,200,000 shares, an increase of 9.9% from the March 15th total of 3,820,000 shares. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Gentex Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of GNTX opened at $33.68 on Wednesday. Gentex has a 12 month low of $25.85 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.96. The stock has a market cap of $7.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.99.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.06. Gentex had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The company had revenue of $589.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $563.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. Gentex’s quarterly revenue was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Gentex will post 2.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GNTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. B. Riley upped 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. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.67.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,365.84. The sale was disclosed in a 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,365.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the sale, 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. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Gentex

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GNTX. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 99,783.7% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,630,950 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $235,366,000 after purchasing an additional 8,622,309 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,925,355 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 3,330,502 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Gentex during the 4th quarter worth $89,843,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

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.