Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN - Free Report) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,410,368 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 178,745 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.60% of Knowles worth $25,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KN. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knowles in the second quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Knowles by 114.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Knowles during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Knowles by 37.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Knowles during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Craig Hallum upgraded Knowles to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Susquehanna dropped their price target on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total value of $217,490.91. Following the transaction, the director now owns 48,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $846,051.57. This represents a 20.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total value of $2,993,127.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares of the company's stock, valued at $15,576,848.04. The trade was a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 201,845 shares of company stock valued at $3,774,234 over the last quarter. 2.65% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Knowles Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of KN traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.58. The stock had a trading volume of 451,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 572,442. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of -8.30 and a beta of 1.44. Knowles Co. has a 1 year low of $14.97 and a 1 year high of $20.26. The stock's 50 day moving average is $18.22 and its 200 day moving average is $17.82.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.16% and a negative net margin of 27.53%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share.

Knowles Profile

Knowles Corporation offers capacitors, radio frequency (RF) filtering products, balanced armature speakers, micro-acoustic microphones, and audio solutions in Asia, the United States, Europe, other Americas, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Precision Devices (PD); Medtech & Specialty Audio (MSA); and Consumer MEMS Microphones (CMM).