Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Short Interest Update

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,250,000 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the December 15th total of 2,880,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 581,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.6 days.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total value of $2,993,127.02. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,576,848.04. This represents a 16.12 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,681 shares in the company, valued at $1,200,312.26. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 182,541 shares of company stock valued at $3,436,500 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 2.57% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knowles

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Knowles by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,643 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in Knowles by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,489 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 661 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Knowles by 37.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its stake in Knowles by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 17,985 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Knowles by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,276 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 845 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of KN stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $20.39. 397,550 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 607,889. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $19.52 and a 200 day moving average of $18.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Knowles has a 52-week low of $14.97 and a 52-week high of $20.85. The company has a market cap of $1.80 billion, a PE ratio of -8.71 and a beta of 1.43.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted 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 negative net margin of 27.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.16%. The business had revenue of $142.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis.

About Knowles

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).