Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Gentex Co. (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 7,480,000 shares, a growth of 27.6% from the March 15th total of 5,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.2 days. Currently, 3.3% of the company's shares are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gentex

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 131.4% in the 1st quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 26,893 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $627,000 after purchasing an additional 15,271 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Gentex by 5.9% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 219,454 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $5,113,000 after buying an additional 12,168 shares during the last quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Gentex by 3.4% in the first quarter. Illumine Investment Management LLC now owns 63,385 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $1,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Gentex during the first quarter worth approximately $4,118,000. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Gentex in the 1st quarter valued at $359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on GNTX shares. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Gentex from $30.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Gentex from $34.00 to $32.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $32.50 target price (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Gentex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Gentex from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Baird R W lowered Gentex from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $28.31.

Gentex Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:GNTX traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $21.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,027,410 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,697,329. Gentex has a 52-week low of $20.28 and a 52-week high of $35.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.84. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.40 and a 200-day moving average of $27.02.

Gentex (NASDAQ:GNTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Gentex will post 2.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Gentex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 9th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.19%. Gentex's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.27%.

About Gentex

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.