Knowles (NYSE:KN) Downgraded by StockNews.com to Hold

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Knowles (NYSE:KN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

Separately, Susquehanna raised their price objective on Knowles from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th.

Knowles Price Performance

KN stock opened at $17.66 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $17.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.25. The stock has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.36, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Knowles has a 1 year low of $12.78 and a 1 year high of $19.73.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $204.70 million for the quarter. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.39% and a negative net margin of 24.36%.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In related news, CFO John S. Anderson sold 10,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $193,214.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 211,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,907,200. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Knowles news, CFO John S. Anderson sold 10,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total transaction of $193,214.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 211,200 shares in the company, valued at $3,907,200. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $217,490.91. Following the sale, the director now owns 48,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $846,051.57. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,748 shares of company stock worth $530,948. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KN. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Knowles by 569.5% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,494,000 after purchasing an additional 566,476 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Knowles by 6.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,678,995 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $115,277,000 after acquiring an additional 375,822 shares during the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in Knowles in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,468,000. Ariel Investments LLC increased its stake in Knowles by 3.7% in the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,187,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $83,513,000 after acquiring an additional 183,991 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in Knowles in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,777,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Knowles Company 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).