Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 58,636 Shares of Knowles Corporation $KN

Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN - Free Report) by 26.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 278,010 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after acquiring an additional 58,636 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.32% of Knowles worth $4,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Knowles during the 1st quarter valued at $5,581,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Knowles by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 499,859 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $7,598,000 after purchasing an additional 87,268 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Knowles by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 75,737 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $1,151,000 after purchasing an additional 3,726 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Knowles by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,110 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares during the period. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in shares of Knowles by 59.4% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 36,836 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 13,722 shares during the period. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Knowles from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.00.

Knowles Stock Up 5.6%

KN stock traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $21.48. The company had a trading volume of 141,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 720,721. Knowles Corporation has a 1 year low of $12.19 and a 1 year high of $21.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.98 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.15.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Knowles news, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 56,130 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.47, for a total value of $1,148,981.10. Following the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 66,552 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,319.44. This trade represents a 45.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.94, for a total transaction of $209,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 62,537 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,309,524.78. This trade represents a 13.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.54% of the company's stock.

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).