Knowles (NYSE:KN) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Knowles (NYSE:KN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on KN. Susquehanna increased their price objective on shares of Knowles from $15.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Knowles Price Performance

NYSE KN opened at $17.72 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.36. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $17.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.31. Knowles has a 52-week low of $12.78 and a 52-week high of $19.73. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 20.15 and a beta of 1.42.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by ($0.16). Knowles had a negative net margin of 24.36% and a positive return on equity of 5.39%. The business had revenue of $204.70 million for the quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knowles

In other Knowles news, CFO John S. Anderson sold 10,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 211,200 shares in the company, valued at $3,907,200. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Knowles news, CFO John S. Anderson sold 10,444 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were 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 directly owns 211,200 shares in the company, valued at $3,907,200. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Keith Barnes sold 6,725 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.88, for a total transaction of $120,243.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 86,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,541,112.96. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 29,748 shares of company stock worth $530,948 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KN. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knowles in the second quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 114.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Knowles in the second quarter worth $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 37.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knowles in the second quarter worth $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

About Knowles

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).