Royce & Associates LP Purchases 36,700 Shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Royce & Associates LP boosted its position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 4.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 870,123 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,700 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Knowles were worth $15,688,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,993,942 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $193,102,000 after acquiring an additional 114,934 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 6.0% during the second 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. Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 3.7% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 5,187,144 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $83,513,000 after acquiring an additional 183,991 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 64.0% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,092,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $19,692,000 after acquiring an additional 426,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 4.7% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 829,281 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $14,952,000 after acquiring an additional 37,244 shares during the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KN opened at $18.13 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $17.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.60. The firm has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.75 and a beta of 1.42. Knowles Co. has a 52 week low of $14.97 and a 52 week high of $19.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on KN shares. Susquehanna dropped 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. StockNews.com lowered Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Craig Hallum upgraded Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other Knowles news, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the company’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 owns 61,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO John S. Anderson sold 10,444 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $193,214.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 211,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,907,200. This represents a 4.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 212,289 shares of company stock worth $3,967,448 over the last quarter. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

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).