Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Short Interest Up 5.8% in September

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 5,250,000 shares, an increase of 5.8% from the September 15th total of 4,960,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 1,580,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gentex

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Gentex by 27.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,728,378 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $285,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,905,356 shares during the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at $127,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Gentex by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,280,716 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $727,688,000 after purchasing an additional 163,373 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Gentex by 129.7% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 111,827 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,652,000 after acquiring an additional 63,152 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Gentex by 26.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 363 shares during the period. 86.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GNTX. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Gentex from $40.00 to $38.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 29th. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Gentex from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Gentex from $39.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Gentex in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $34.00 price target on the stock. Finally, B. Riley decreased their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.13.

Gentex Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GNTX traded up $0.46 during trading on Thursday, reaching $29.70. The stock had a trading volume of 829,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,448,314. Gentex has a one year low of $27.86 and a one year high of $37.58. The company has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.47, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.50.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $572.93 million for 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Gentex will post 1.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.62%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 9th. Gentex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.40%.

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.