Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Purchases Shares of 417,539 Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 417,539 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,551,000. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC owned 0.20% of Gentex as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Gentex in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its holdings in Gentex by 2,299.0% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 2,399 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 2,299 shares in the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners acquired a new position in Gentex during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Employees Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Gentex in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $56,000. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GNTX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $27.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Gentex from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Freedom Capital cut Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $25.00 price target (down from $26.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Gentex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.80.

Gentex Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Gentex stock opened at $23.81 on Tuesday. Gentex Corporation has a 52 week low of $20.48 and a 52 week high of $29.38. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $24.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.60 and a beta of 0.79.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.08. Gentex had a net margin of 15.50% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $651.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $669.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.43 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 8th were given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 8th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Gentex’s payout ratio is 25.40%.

About Gentex

Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ: GNTX) is a global technology company specializing in the design and manufacture of automotive and aerospace products. The company’s primary business centers on automatic-dimming rearview mirrors, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and camera-based driver monitoring technologies. In the automotive sector, Gentex supplies exterior and interior mirrors with integrated electronics, connectivity features, and safety capabilities to many of the world’s leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).