Royce & Associates LP Raises Holdings in Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN)

Key Points

• Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Knowles Corporation by 31.5%, acquiring an additional 386,155 shares to hold approximately 1.84% of the company worth $24.5 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Versant Capital Management Inc and Sterling Capital Management LLC, significantly boosted their positions in Knowles, indicating strong institutional interest in the stock.
• Wall Street analysts have upgraded Knowles, with price targets raised from $18.00 to $22.00, and assigned an "outperform" and "buy" ratings, suggesting positive sentiment about the company's growth potential.

Royce & Associates LP raised its position in shares of Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN - Free Report) by 31.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,611,679 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock after purchasing an additional 386,155 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned about 1.84% of Knowles worth $24,498,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Knowles by 725.6% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,643 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Knowles by 835.5% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 4th quarter worth $203,000. Stifel Financial Corp bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 4th quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Ethic Inc. bought a new position in shares of Knowles in the 4th quarter worth $210,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 5,545 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $95,651.25. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 111,286 shares in the company, valued at $1,919,683.50. This represents a 4.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.54% of the company's stock.

Knowles Stock Up 1.2%

KN stock traded up $0.24 on Monday, hitting $20.63. 467,526 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 732,421. Knowles Corporation has a 12-month low of $12.19 and a 12-month high of $20.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $17.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 2.00. The stock has a market cap of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 71.13 and a beta of 1.41.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $132.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $128.95 million. Knowles had a return on equity of 8.22% and a net margin of 4.40%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Knowles from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Craig Hallum boosted their target price on Knowles from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday.

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).