Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 134,334 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 4,847 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.15% of Knowles worth $2,677,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Knowles by 114.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 37.6% in the 3rd 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. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $60,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Knowles Stock Performance

Shares of KN opened at $20.58 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $19.54 and its 200-day moving average is $18.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.79 and a beta of 1.43. 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 12-month low of $14.97 and a 12-month high of $20.85.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $142.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. Knowles had a negative net margin of 27.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.16%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.25 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knowles news, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.56, for a total value of $370,164.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 66,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,160,066.28. The trade was a 24.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $73,208.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 61,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,200,312.26. This trade represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. 2.57% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th.

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).