First Trust Advisors LP Grows Stock Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,377 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,434 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Knowles were worth $3,515,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles in the 4th quarter worth $28,798,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles during the fourth quarter worth about $16,297,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter worth about $7,983,000. Royce & Associates LP lifted its stake in Knowles by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,225,524 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $24,425,000 after buying an additional 355,401 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Knowles by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,475,339 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $169,135,000 after buying an additional 265,814 shares during the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knowles Price Performance

KN stock opened at $16.45 on Friday. Knowles Co. has a 1 year low of $12.19 and a 1 year high of $20.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of -6.21 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.40 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.75.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.52% and a negative net margin of 34.66%. The company had revenue of $132.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.18 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. StockNews.com lowered Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th.

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).