Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Takes $2.14 Million Position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 65,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,139,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,483,145 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $559,838,000 after buying an additional 93,928 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in shares of Gentex by 0.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 21,794,462 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $610,899,000 after buying an additional 94,837 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Gentex by 99,783.7% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,630,950 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $235,366,000 after buying an additional 8,622,309 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Gentex by 92.4% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 8,174,011 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $238,436,000 after buying an additional 3,925,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Gentex by 1.5% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,886,387 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $193,025,000 after buying an additional 100,063 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.76% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 62,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,122,491.15. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Richard O. Schaum sold 6,022 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.93, for a total transaction of $204,326.46. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 62,555 shares in the company, valued at $2,122,491.15. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Kevin C. Nash sold 13,500 shares of Gentex stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.04, for a total transaction of $446,040.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 44,321 shares in the company, valued at $1,464,365.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX opened at $33.51 on Thursday. Gentex Co. has a 1 year low of $25.85 and a 1 year high of $37.58. The company has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.99. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $35.76 and a 200-day moving average of $32.96.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The auto parts company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.44 by $0.06. Gentex had a net margin of 18.63% and a return on equity of 19.25%. The company had revenue of $589.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $563.42 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Gentex Co. will post 2.16 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on GNTX shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Gentex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. B. Riley lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Gentex from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.83.

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.