Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 2,400 Shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,707 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Knowles were worth $608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 569.5% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 665,947 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,494,000 after purchasing an additional 566,476 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,678,995 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $115,277,000 after purchasing an additional 375,822 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth $3,468,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth $2,777,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth $1,988,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Knowles Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of KN stock opened at $19.24 on Friday. Knowles Co. has a 52-week low of $14.97 and a 52-week high of $19.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of -8.22 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.74.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.97 million. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.16% and a negative net margin of 27.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 earnings per share.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total transaction of $2,993,127.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at $15,576,848.04. This trade represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.56, for a total value of $370,164.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 66,063 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,160,066.28. The trade was a 24.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 201,845 shares of company stock worth $3,774,234 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Craig Hallum upgraded Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Susquehanna cut their price target on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

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).