AdvisorShares Investments LLC Makes New $451,000 Investment in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

AdvisorShares Investments LLC bought a new position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,430 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $451,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GNTX. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Gentex in the fourth quarter worth about $89,843,000. Scharf Investments LLC raised its holdings in Gentex by 36,001.4% in the second quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,278,357 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $76,803,000 after buying an additional 2,272,046 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Gentex by 301.6% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,568,775 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $83,896,000 after buying an additional 1,929,150 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Gentex by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,728,378 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $285,069,000 after buying an additional 1,905,356 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Gentex by 41.2% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,677,655 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $168,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363,898 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GNTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Gentex in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $34.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas cut shares of Gentex from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder Corp Gentex purchased 3,152,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.00 per share, for a total transaction of $15,762,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,463,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,319,040. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ GNTX opened at $29.26 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $31.27 and a 200 day moving average of $33.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.92. Gentex Co. has a 12-month low of $27.86 and a 12-month high of $37.58.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $572.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.28 million. Gentex had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Sell-side analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. Gentex’s payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

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.