Royce & Associates LP Buys 16,085 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 351,285 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,085 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Gentex were worth $10,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GNTX. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Gentex by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,634 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Gentex by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 433,446 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $12,453,000 after purchasing an additional 18,067 shares during the last quarter. Postrock Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gentex in the 4th quarter worth about $709,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Gentex by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 268,366 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $7,710,000 after purchasing an additional 7,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 26,726 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 8,204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird set a $31.00 target price on Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim set a $30.00 target price on Gentex in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $32.50 price target (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Gentex has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.81.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX stock opened at $24.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.44. Gentex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $23.63 and a fifty-two week high of $36.75.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 earnings per share (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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. Gentex’s payout ratio is 27.27%.

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.