Welch & Forbes LLC Sells 6,050 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Welch & Forbes LLC trimmed its holdings in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 13.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 39,300 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 6,050 shares during the quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC’s holdings in Gentex were worth $1,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Gentex by 95.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 6,823,022 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $222,021,000 after acquiring an additional 3,330,502 shares during the last quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Gentex by 2.5% in the third quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 3,843,342 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $125,062,000 after buying an additional 93,104 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Gentex by 3.3% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,356,505 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $76,681,000 after purchasing an additional 76,071 shares in the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,096,479 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $68,219,000 after buying an additional 27,279 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Gentex by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,951,077 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $63,488,000 after purchasing an additional 36,461 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of GNTX stock remained flat at $34.66 during trading hours on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 231,045 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,414,811. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.27. The firm has a market cap of $8.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 0.98. Gentex Co. has a 1-year low of $25.86 and a 1-year high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.48 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $590.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $600.38 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 18.77%. Gentex’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.42 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Gentex Co. will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Insider Activity at Gentex

In other Gentex news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,365.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GNTX. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com upgraded Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. B. Riley boosted 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.83.

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.