Royce & Associates LP Raises Stock Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN - Free Report) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 870,123 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 36,700 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.99% of Knowles worth $15,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of KN stock traded down $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $18.13. 440,927 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 573,404. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $17.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -7.75 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Knowles Co. has a 1-year low of $14.97 and a 1-year high of $19.73.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share.

Insider Transactions at Knowles

In related news, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $73,208.52. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 61,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. This trade represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total value of $2,993,127.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,576,848.04. This represents a 16.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 212,289 shares of company stock valued at $3,967,448 over the last three months. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).