National Bank of Canada FI Acquires 1,452 Shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 2.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 66,201 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,452 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Knowles were worth $1,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. boosted its position in Knowles by 11.0% during the third quarter. Virtus Investment Advisers Inc. now owns 18,100 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,392,668 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,140,000 after buying an additional 594,484 shares in the last quarter. Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Knowles in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $358,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in shares of Knowles during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $523,000. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles during the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knowles Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE KN opened at $19.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.47 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. Knowles Co. has a 12-month low of $14.97 and a 12-month high of $20.26. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.91.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, 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 this hyperlink. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $73,208.52. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 61,681 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. The trade was a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 201,845 shares of company stock valued at $3,774,234 over the last quarter. 2.65% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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).