Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.20.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GNTX shares. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on shares of Gentex from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. B. Riley increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Gentex in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

Gentex Stock Performance

Gentex stock opened at $30.59 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $31.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.31. The stock has a market cap of $7.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 0.98. Gentex has a fifty-two week low of $25.77 and a fifty-two week high of $34.33.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 27th. The auto parts company reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $575.85 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $567.57 million. Gentex had a net margin of 18.04% and a return on equity of 18.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Gentex will post 1.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 6th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 5th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gentex

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Gentex by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,483,145 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $559,838,000 after acquiring an additional 93,928 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Gentex by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,794,462 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $610,899,000 after acquiring an additional 94,837 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Gentex by 99,783.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,630,950 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $235,366,000 after acquiring an additional 8,622,309 shares during the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in Gentex by 92.4% in the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,174,011 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $238,436,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925,355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Gentex by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,886,387 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $193,025,000 after acquiring an additional 100,063 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.60% 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, 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.