Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Short Interest Up 12.8% in December

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,250,000 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the December 15th total of 2,880,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 581,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.6 days. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Knowles Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE KN opened at $20.39 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $19.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.37. Knowles has a fifty-two week low of $14.97 and a fifty-two week high of $20.85. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $142.50 million for 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%. Knowles’s revenue was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other Knowles 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $73,208.52. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 182,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,436,500 in the last quarter. Insiders own 2.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knowles

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Knowles during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Knowles during the third quarter worth approximately $52,000. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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).