Wall Street Zen Downgrades Knowles (NYSE:KN) to Buy

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has downgraded Knowles (NYSE:KN) from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating, impacting investor sentiment.
• Analysts have different price targets for Knowles, with Robert W. Baird setting a target at $22.00, indicating a positive outlook for the stock.
• Insider trading activities revealed significant stock sales by executives, with notable decreases in their positions, while 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report released on Friday.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.00.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KN opened at $21.6090 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.29, a current ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Knowles has a fifty-two week low of $12.19 and a fifty-two week high of $21.69. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.17. The company has a market cap of $1.86 billion, a PE ratio of 74.52 and a beta of 1.45.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of Knowles

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH increased its holdings in Knowles by 4.1% during the second quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 14,648 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Knowles by 4.7% during the first quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 13,105 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $201,000 after purchasing an additional 592 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 4.6% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,110 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $260,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 4.8% in the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 22,453 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 1,026 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 47.0% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,703 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 1,184 shares during the period. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).

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