Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Buys 2,388 Shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 58,442 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,388 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $1,735,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Scharf Investments LLC grew its holdings in Gentex by 36,001.4% in the 2nd quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 2,278,357 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $76,803,000 after acquiring an additional 2,272,046 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Gentex by 41.2% in the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,677,655 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $168,957,000 after purchasing an additional 1,363,898 shares during the last quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Gentex by 287.7% during the 1st quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC now owns 1,204,152 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $43,494,000 after purchasing an additional 893,552 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA bought a new position in Gentex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,289,000. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in Gentex by 32.6% in the 1st quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 2,963,250 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $107,033,000 after buying an additional 727,913 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX opened at $31.25 on Friday. Gentex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $27.86 and a fifty-two week high of $37.58. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.25. The stock has a market cap of $7.22 billion, a PE ratio of 16.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.92.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Gentex had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 17.78%. The company had revenue of $572.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $623.28 million. Equities research analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder Corp Gentex bought 3,152,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.00 per share, with a total value of $15,762,500.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now owns 6,463,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,319,040. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GNTX shares. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Gentex from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Gentex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 14th. B. Riley cut their target price on shares of Gentex from $44.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Gentex from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, July 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.13.

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.