Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 416,828 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 25,717 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.46% of Knowles worth $7,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in Knowles in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted 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 valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Knowles during the second quarter worth about $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Knowles in the second quarter valued at about $46,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on KN. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of 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 cut shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knowles

In other news, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $217,490.91. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 48,933 shares in the company, valued at $846,051.57. This trade represents a 20.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $73,208.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 61,681 shares in the company, 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 have sold 212,289 shares of company stock valued at $3,967,448 over the last three months. 2.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Knowles Price Performance

KN opened at $18.13 on Wednesday. Knowles Co. has a 1 year low of $14.97 and a 1 year high of $19.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of -7.68 and a beta of 1.42.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $142.50 million during 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%. The firm’s revenue was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share.

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).