Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 852,022 Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 852,022 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $24,479,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.37% of Gentex at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GNTX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Gentex by 179.7% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,000,796 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $59,404,000 after buying an additional 1,285,519 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Gentex by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,787,311 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $80,079,000 after purchasing an additional 386,461 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Gentex by 31.6% in the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 189,254 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $5,437,000 after purchasing an additional 45,475 shares during the period. BCGM Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Gentex by 64.2% during the fourth quarter. BCGM Wealth Management LLC now owns 56,743 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,630,000 after buying an additional 22,180 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Gentex by 54.4% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 107,930 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $3,205,000 after buying an additional 38,027 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on GNTX. Baird R W lowered shares of Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Gentex from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Gentex from $29.00 to $21.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $32.50 price target (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $28.31.

Gentex Stock Performance

Shares of GNTX stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $21.86. 510,362 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,700,184. Gentex Co. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $35.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $23.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.94 billion, a PE ratio of 12.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.84.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The auto parts company reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.49 by ($0.10). Gentex had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 17.49%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Gentex Co. will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gentex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 9th. Gentex's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.27%.

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.