Knowles (NYSE:KN) Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Craig Hallum raised Knowles from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th.

Knowles Stock Down 1.8%

Shares of Knowles stock traded down $0.32 on Friday, reaching $17.65. The company's stock had a trading volume of 685,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 677,147. The company has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.54 and a beta of 1.41. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $16.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.27. Knowles has a 52 week low of $12.19 and a 52 week high of $20.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Knowles (NYSE:KN - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.18. The business had revenue of $132.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.95 million. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 6.35% and a negative net margin of 38.96%. The company's quarterly revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.18 EPS.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other Knowles news, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 5,545 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total transaction of $95,651.25. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 111,286 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,919,683.50. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 2.54% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Knowles

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in Knowles during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,798,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Knowles during the fourth quarter valued at about $16,297,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Knowles during the fourth quarter valued at about $7,983,000. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in Knowles by 31.5% during the first quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,611,679 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock valued at $24,498,000 after purchasing an additional 386,155 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Knowles during the first quarter valued at about $5,581,000. Institutional investors own 96.35% 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).