Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 416,828 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 25,717 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Knowles were worth $7,515,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Knowles in the first quarter worth about $227,000. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 17,914 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $288,000 after purchasing an additional 1,028 shares during the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its position in Knowles by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 35,216 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $599,000 after purchasing an additional 4,242 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Knowles by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,993,942 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $193,102,000 after buying an additional 114,934 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd bought a new position in Knowles during the 1st quarter worth $429,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on KN shares. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total transaction of $2,993,127.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,576,848.04. This trade represents a 16.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.56, for a total transaction of $370,164.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 66,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,160,066.28. This represents a 24.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 212,289 shares of company stock worth $3,967,448. 2.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Knowles Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Knowles stock opened at $18.13 on Wednesday. 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. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $17.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.65. The company has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.68 and a beta of 1.42.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. Knowles had a negative net margin of 27.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.16%. The company’s revenue was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business 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).