West Michigan Advisors LLC Sells 326,605 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

West Michigan Advisors LLC cut its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 17.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,518,923 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 326,605 shares during the period. Gentex accounts for 13.2% of West Michigan Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. West Michigan Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.67% of Gentex worth $43,639,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Gentex by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. now owns 7,699,919 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $228,611,000 after purchasing an additional 111,500 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Gentex by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,368,004 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $159,406,000 after buying an additional 285,802 shares during the last quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN increased its position in Gentex by 5.5% in the third quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,493,914 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $133,424,000 after buying an additional 234,083 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Gentex by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,311 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $80,079,000 after buying an additional 386,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Gentex by 179.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,000,796 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $59,404,000 after buying an additional 1,285,519 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GNTX. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 target price (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 target price on Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on Gentex from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.31.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX opened at $24.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.91. Gentex Co. has a one year low of $24.07 and a one year high of $37.58. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $26.70 and its 200-day moving average is $28.90.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued 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 net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. Gentex’s payout ratio is currently 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.