Ariel Investments LLC Lowers Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Ariel Investments LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN - Free Report) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,483,198 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after selling 150,509 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC owned 5.09% of Knowles worth $89,350,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,561,358 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $230,418,000 after buying an additional 82,827 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Knowles by 2.9% during 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 purchasing an additional 265,814 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Knowles by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,499,431 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $49,814,000 after purchasing an additional 106,763 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,226,761 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $44,379,000 after purchasing an additional 54,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Knowles by 10.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,051,346 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $36,986,000 after buying an additional 191,383 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on KN. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th.

Knowles Price Performance

NYSE:KN traded down $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $16.17. 383,161 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 683,778. The firm has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.10 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $15.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.74. Knowles Co. has a 52 week low of $12.19 and a 52 week high of $20.86.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.18. The firm had revenue of $132.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.95 million. Knowles had a negative net margin of 34.66% and a positive return on equity of 5.52%. The business's revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share.

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).