Verition Fund Management LLC Buys Shares of 12,567 Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Verition Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 12,567 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC increased its stake in Knowles by 38.0% during the second 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. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in Knowles by 83.4% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,997 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,262,000 after purchasing an additional 85,940 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in Knowles by 2.5% during 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 period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Knowles by 6.1% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 792,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $13,671,000 after purchasing an additional 45,648 shares during the period. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles during the second quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Stock Down 0.1 %

KN stock opened at $19.82 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $18.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35. Knowles Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.97 and a fifty-two week high of $20.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.47 and a beta of 1.44.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $142.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knowles

In other news, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,066.28. This represents a 24.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total value of $217,490.91. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 48,933 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $846,051.57. This represents a 20.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 201,845 shares of company stock worth $3,774,234 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on KN. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

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).