Knowles (NYSE:KN) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $20.50 and last traded at $20.50, with a volume of 764 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Knowles Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.52 and a beta of 1.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $19.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.13.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 569.5% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $11,494,000 after purchasing an additional 566,476 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its stake in Knowles by 10.7% in the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 86,316 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after acquiring an additional 8,343 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Knowles by 6.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 375,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 10.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 26,634 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,463 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

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).