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

Royce & Associates LP grew its stake in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 4.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 870,123 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,700 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned about 0.99% of Knowles worth $15,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Knowles by 569.5% in the 2nd 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 lifted its stake in shares of Knowles by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,678,995 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $115,277,000 after purchasing an additional 375,822 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,468,000. Ariel Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Knowles by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,187,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,513,000 after purchasing an additional 183,991 shares during the period. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,777,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at $15,576,848.04. This trade represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 61,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. This trade represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 212,289 shares of company stock worth $3,967,448 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Price Performance

NYSE KN opened at $18.13 on Friday. Knowles Co. has a 12 month low of $14.97 and a 12 month high of $19.73. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.75 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $17.68 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.25 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on KN. StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note 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 on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

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).