Knowles (NYSE:KN) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $19.87 and last traded at $19.80, with a volume of 56244 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $19.46.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Craig Hallum raised Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a report 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 Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of -8.32 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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%. Knowles’s revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 EPS.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of Knowles 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at $15,576,848.04. The trade was a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 66,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,160,066.28. The trade was a 24.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 201,845 shares of company stock worth $3,774,234 over the last three months. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knowles

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Knowles during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Knowles by 114.6% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in Knowles during the second quarter worth $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Knowles by 37.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 668 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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).