Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 5,220 Shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 28.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,900 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 5,220 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Knowles were worth $257,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KN. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Knowles by 2.9% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,475,339 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $169,135,000 after buying an additional 265,814 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Knowles by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,678,995 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $115,277,000 after acquiring an additional 375,822 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Knowles by 54,279.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,621,626 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $47,268,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616,805 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Knowles by 33.1% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,392,668 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,140,000 after purchasing an additional 594,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Knowles by 10.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,051,346 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,986,000 after purchasing an additional 191,383 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Stock Performance

KN opened at $20.22 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.21 and a 200 day moving average of $18.19. Knowles Co. has a fifty-two week low of $14.97 and a fifty-two week high of $20.86.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm 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 business’s revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Activity

In other Knowles 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at $15,576,848.04. This represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the business’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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. 2.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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).