Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. Grows Holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. increased its stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 11.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Knowles were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Knowles by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 87,679 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its stake in Knowles by 38.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Knowles by 10.2% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 3,204 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Knowles by 83.4% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,997 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after buying an additional 85,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of Knowles by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KN has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Susquehanna lowered their price objective 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.

Insider Transactions at Knowles

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $73,208.52. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. The trade was a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 201,845 shares of company stock worth $3,774,234. Company insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Trading Down 2.0 %

NYSE:KN opened at $19.42 on Friday. Knowles Co. has a 12-month low of $14.97 and a 12-month high of $20.26. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.30 and a beta of 1.44.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released 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 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.25 EPS.

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).