Barclays PLC Boosts Stock Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 340.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 145,401 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 112,354 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC’s holdings in Knowles were worth $2,622,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in Knowles by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,997 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after purchasing an additional 85,940 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake 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 valued at $780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 792,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,671,000 after purchasing an additional 45,648 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles during the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Knowles in the second quarter valued at about $2,777,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of KN stock opened at $19.91 on Wednesday. Knowles Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.97 and a fifty-two week high of $20.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.51 and a beta of 1.44. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total value of $2,993,127.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 820,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,576,848.04. This represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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 189,266 shares of company stock worth $3,556,743 in the last quarter. 2.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Knowles 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).