Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Grows Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,410,368 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 178,745 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.60% of Knowles worth $25,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 3.7% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 87,679 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 38.0% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 10.2% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $597,000 after acquiring an additional 3,204 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 83.4% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,997 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after acquiring an additional 85,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Knowles by 2.5% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knowles Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of NYSE KN opened at $19.42 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $18.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Knowles Co. has a 1-year low of $14.97 and a 1-year high of $20.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.30 and a beta of 1.44.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.16% and a negative net margin of 27.53%. The company had revenue of $142.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.97 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th. Craig Hallum raised Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total transaction of $2,993,127.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 820,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,576,848.04. This represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $73,208.52. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 61,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 201,845 shares of company stock valued at $3,774,234 over the last ninety days. 2.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Knowles 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).