Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) was the target of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,150,000 shares, a decline of 6.5% from the January 15th total of 3,370,000 shares. Currently, 3.7% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 597,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.3 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knowles

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Knowles by 114.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Knowles by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Knowles in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Knowles by 835.5% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 2,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Knowles by 20.0% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,643 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $66,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the period. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on KN. StockNews.com raised Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Susquehanna cut their price target on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Craig Hallum downgraded Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Friday.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of Knowles stock traded up $0.22 on Tuesday, hitting $18.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 220,998 shares, compared to its average volume of 601,471. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.91 and a beta of 1.42. Knowles has a 1 year low of $15.00 and a 1 year high of $20.85. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $19.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.48. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.01). 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.

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).