Whittier Trust Co. Lowers Stock Position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Whittier Trust Co. lowered its position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,197 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 510 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Gentex were worth $154,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners grew its position in Gentex by 4.2% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,706,411 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $206,095,000 after buying an additional 230,873 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in 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 buying an additional 1,363,898 shares during the period. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in Gentex by 3.0% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,343,880 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $146,432,000 after buying an additional 126,416 shares during the period. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN grew its position in Gentex by 1.0% during the second quarter. Disciplined Growth Investors Inc. MN now owns 4,259,831 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $143,599,000 after buying an additional 43,457 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Gentex by 14.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,989,248 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $134,475,000 after buying an additional 489,689 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GNTX. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Gentex from $33.00 to $31.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Gentex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 14th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Gentex in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $34.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Gentex from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.13.

Insider Activity at Gentex

In related news, major shareholder Corp Gentex bought 3,152,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $5.00 per share, with a total value of $15,762,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 6,463,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,319,040. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.41% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Gentex Trading Up 0.5 %

GNTX stock opened at $29.66 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $29.90 and a 200-day moving average of $32.27. Gentex Co. has a 12 month low of $27.86 and a 12 month high of $37.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.92.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $572.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $623.28 million. Gentex had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 17.78%. Sell-side analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 1.96 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 9th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 9th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.40%.

Gentex 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.