Knowles (NYSE:KN) Shares Gap Down to $17.20

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $17.20, but opened at $16.46. Knowles shares last traded at $16.81, with a volume of 124,605 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Susquehanna increased their target price 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.

Knowles Stock Down 2.2 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $17.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.36 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91 and a beta of 1.42.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $204.70 million during the quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knowles

In other news, 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 transaction of $193,214.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 211,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,907,200. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knowles

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Knowles in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Knowles during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 217.0% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,311 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its stake in Knowles by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).