Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Purchases New Stake in Gentex Corporation $GNTX

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gentex Corporation (NASDAQ:GNTX) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 928,729 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,283,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GNTX. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Gentex in the first quarter valued at approximately $700,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in Gentex in the first quarter worth $1,694,000. Aurora Investment Counsel purchased a new position in Gentex in the second quarter worth $534,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Gentex by 23,142.1% in the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 26,496 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $617,000 after purchasing an additional 26,382 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Gentex by 127.8% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 20,065 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 11,258 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gentex Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ GNTX opened at $23.47 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $23.46 and its 200-day moving average is $25.00. Gentex Corporation has a 12-month low of $20.28 and a 12-month high of $29.52. The firm has a market cap of $5.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 0.78.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.47 by ($0.01). Gentex had a return on equity of 15.86% and a net margin of 15.61%.The business had revenue of $570.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $661.10 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Gentex Corporation will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 7th will be given a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Gentex’s payout ratio is 28.24%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GNTX. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (up from $28.00) on shares of Gentex in a report on Monday, October 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Gentex from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Gentex in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $27.00 price target on shares of Gentex and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Gentex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Gentex presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.29.

Gentex Company Profile

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).