Knowles (NYSE:KN) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Knowles (NYSE:KN - Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Monday.

KN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Craig Hallum upgraded Knowles from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Knowles Stock Down 1.9%

KN traded down $0.37 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $18.64. 1,156,417 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 537,223. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of -6.90 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.07. Knowles has a 1 year low of $12.19 and a 1 year high of $20.85.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates 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 38.96% and a positive return on equity of 6.35%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 5,545 shares of Knowles 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 111,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,919,683.50. This trade represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.54% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 97.2% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 96,279 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $1,919,000 after acquiring an additional 47,462 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 34.9% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 149,152 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $2,973,000 after acquiring an additional 38,603 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 428,615 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $8,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,510 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter worth approximately $383,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 41,446 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $826,000 after acquiring an additional 9,376 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).