Bank of America Corp DE Grows Stock Holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN - Free Report) by 17.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 436,464 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after buying an additional 66,202 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE owned approximately 0.50% of Knowles worth $8,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of KN. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Knowles by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 835.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 2,448 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 72.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,451 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 1,449 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Knowles by 66.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,869 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $97,000 after acquiring an additional 1,947 shares during the period. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles in the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on KN shares. Craig Hallum upgraded shares of Knowles from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Knowles from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 5,545 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $95,651.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 111,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,919,683.50. This trade represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 2.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Knowles Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NYSE:KN traded up $0.41 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $16.62. The stock had a trading volume of 460,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 685,350. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $15.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $17.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. Knowles Co. has a one year low of $12.19 and a one year high of $20.86. The company has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.27 and a beta of 1.40.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. The company had revenue of $132.20 million during 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%. Knowles's revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.18 earnings per share.

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).