Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $968,000 in Knowles Corporation $KN

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new position in Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 37,700 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $968,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its position in Knowles by 94.5% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,842 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. McMillan Office Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter worth $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles during the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles during the fourth quarter worth $54,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price target on shares of Knowles in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Knowles from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knowles in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Knowles from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Knowles currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.33.

Knowles Stock Performance

Shares of KN opened at $36.76 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a PE ratio of 57.43 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 3.27. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $37.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.48. Knowles Corporation has a 52 week low of $17.34 and a 52 week high of $42.93.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.03. Knowles had a net margin of 9.10% and a return on equity of 10.66%. The company had revenue of $153.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.40 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Knowles has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.280-0.320 EPS. Research analysts expect that Knowles Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 142,857 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $4,749,995.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 883,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,383,656.75. This trade represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Daniel J. Giesecke sold 20,201 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.32, for a total value of $753,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 175,855 shares in the company, valued at $6,562,908.60. This trade represents a 10.30% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 173,058 shares of company stock worth $5,809,156. Corporate insiders own 2.24% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Profile

Knowles Corporation (NYSE: KN) is a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced micro-acoustic, audio processing and precision device solutions. The company’s product portfolio includes microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, balanced armature receivers, acoustic filters, and custom audio processing integrated circuits. These solutions are designed to enable clear speech, enhanced voice capture and intelligent audio performance in a variety of end markets.

Founded in 1946, Knowles has evolved from its roots in vacuum tube components to become a pure-play audio technology provider following its spin-off from Dover Corporation in 2014.