Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Lowers Position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lessened its position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 4.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,886,332 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 90,336 shares during the quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.81% of Gentex worth $55,194,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 414.3% in the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 900 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Gentex in the first quarter worth $53,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 79.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,887 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 834 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Gentex in the second quarter worth $58,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Gentex by 967.2% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 2,636 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 2,389 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GNTX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Gentex from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Gentex in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, B. Riley lifted their price objective on Gentex from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $33.20.

Gentex Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GNTX opened at $30.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.33. Gentex Co. has a 52-week low of $25.77 and a 52-week high of $34.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.98.

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

Gentex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 6th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 5th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.07%.

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, 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.