Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) saw a significant drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,940,000 shares, a drop of 6.2% from the March 31st total of 4,200,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.7 days. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on GNTX shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.83.

Gentex Trading Down 1.0 %

Gentex stock opened at $33.96 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $35.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 0.99. Gentex has a 12-month low of $25.86 and a 12-month high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released 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). Gentex had a return on equity of 19.19% and a net margin of 18.77%. The firm had revenue of $590.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $600.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.42 EPS. Gentex’s revenue was up 7.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Gentex will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.41%. Gentex’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

Insider Activity at Gentex

In related news, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 44,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,464,365.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gentex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in Gentex by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 411,535 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $14,865,000 after buying an additional 55,748 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 19,768 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $714,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares in the last quarter. JLB & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. JLB & Associates Inc. now owns 24,381 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $881,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 351.9% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 225,136 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $8,132,000 after purchasing an additional 175,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 61.7% in the 1st quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 15,309 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.