Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) by 2.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 436,486 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,418 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.50% of Knowles worth $6,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Knowles by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 14,417 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 588 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Knowles by 46.9% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 669 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in Knowles by 725.6% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,643 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 49,477 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 835.5% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448 shares during the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knowles

In other Knowles news, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 5,545 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 111,286 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,919,683.50. The trade was a 4.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on KN. Craig Hallum raised Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen cut Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KN opened at $17.53 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $17.21 and its 200-day moving average is $17.14. Knowles Corporation has a twelve month low of $12.19 and a twelve month high of $20.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.49 and a beta of 1.41. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.18. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 6.35% and a negative net margin of 38.96%. The company had revenue of $132.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% on a year-over-year basis.

Knowles 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).