Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 252,564 Shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 9.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,369,062 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 252,564 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Knowles were worth $47,215,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,392,668 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,140,000 after acquiring an additional 594,484 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 64.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,092,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $19,692,000 after acquiring an additional 426,214 shares during the last quarter. Foundry Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Knowles in the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,243,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,475,339 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $169,135,000 after acquiring an additional 265,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,051,346 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,986,000 after acquiring an additional 191,383 shares during the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other Knowles news, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $73,208.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 61,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,200,312.26. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 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 approximately $15,576,848.04. This trade represents a 16.12 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. 2.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of KN opened at $19.28 on Tuesday. 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 50 day simple moving average of $19.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.48. Knowles Co. has a 52-week low of $14.97 and a 52-week high of $20.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of -8.24 and a beta of 1.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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).