Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 5.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 416,828 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 25,717 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Knowles were worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles in the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 114.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Knowles in the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Knowles by 37.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Knowles in the third quarter valued at $52,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other news, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $73,208.52. Following the sale, the vice president now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the company’s 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $15,576,848.04. This trade represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. Company insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Stock Performance

Shares of Knowles stock opened at $19.93 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.52 and a beta of 1.44. 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 moving average of $19.00 and a 200 day moving average of $18.11. Knowles Co. has a 12 month low of $14.97 and a 12 month high of $20.49.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. Knowles had a negative net margin of 27.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.16%. The business had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on KN. Craig Hallum raised Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th.

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).