Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC Lowers Position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC cut its stake in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 496,450 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 49,218 shares during the period. Birch Hill Investment Advisors LLC owned 0.22% of Gentex worth $14,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GNTX. Synergy Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Gentex in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its holdings in Gentex by 227.8% in the third quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,826 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 1,269 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Gentex in the third quarter valued at approximately $125,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Gentex by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,133 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $147,000 after acquiring an additional 3,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Gentex by 13.3% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,664 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $168,000 after acquiring an additional 667 shares during the last quarter. 86.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GNTX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $32.50 price target (down from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Gentex from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Gentex from $35.00 to $34.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Gentex from $35.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gentex currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $33.06.

Gentex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GNTX traded down $0.51 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.39. 1,803,456 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,947,956. Gentex Co. has a 1-year low of $24.38 and a 1-year high of $37.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $28.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.36. The firm has a market cap of $5.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 0.91.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.10). Gentex had a net margin of 17.49% and a return on equity of 16.74%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 EPS for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 8th were given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, January 8th. Gentex's payout ratio is currently 27.27%.

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.