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

Knowles (NYSE:KN) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on KN. Craig Hallum upgraded Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Knowles Price Performance

Knowles stock opened at $17.74 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.57 and a beta of 1.41. The business has a 50-day moving average of $17.29 and a 200-day moving average of $17.07. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Knowles has a 1 year low of $12.19 and a 1 year high of $20.86.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $132.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $128.95 million. Knowles had a negative net margin of 38.96% and a positive return on equity of 6.35%. The firm’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 EPS.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other Knowles news, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 5,545 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.25, for a total value of $95,651.25. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 111,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,919,683.50. This represents a 4.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knowles

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of KN. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position 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 buying an additional 1,444 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 835.5% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 2,448 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 47.0% during the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,703 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles during the 1st quarter worth $106,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Knowles by 118.8% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the period. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).