Meeder Asset Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,869 Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,869 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $52,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 569.5% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,494,000 after acquiring an additional 566,476 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,678,995 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,277,000 after buying an additional 375,822 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in Knowles during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,468,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,777,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,988,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.56, for a total value of $370,164.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 66,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,160,066.28. This trade represents a 24.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 212,289 shares of company stock valued at $3,967,448. Company insiders own 2.57% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE KN opened at $18.16 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.76 and a beta of 1.42. Knowles Co. has a 1-year low of $14.97 and a 1-year high of $19.73. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $17.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.66.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.16% and a negative net margin of 27.53%. The company had revenue of $142.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KN. StockNews.com downgraded Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Susquehanna lowered their target price on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Craig Hallum upgraded Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

About Knowles

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).