Knowles (NYSE:KN) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $20.50 and last traded at $20.50, with a volume of 764 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Knowles Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.52 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $19.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.13.

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, topping 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 negative net margin of 27.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.16%. Knowles’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 66,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,160,066.28. This trade represents a 24.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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. Insiders have sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Knowles

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Knowles by 2.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,475,339 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $169,135,000 after buying an additional 265,814 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 375,822 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Knowles by 54,279.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,621,626 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $47,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,805 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Knowles by 33.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,392,668 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,140,000 after purchasing an additional 594,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Knowles by 10.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,051,346 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,986,000 after purchasing an additional 191,383 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).