Knowles (NYSE:KN) Reaches New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $20.31 and last traded at $20.28, with a volume of 294666 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $19.82.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on KN shares. 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 report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Susquehanna decreased their price objective on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

Knowles Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.69 billion, a PE ratio of -8.22 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.67. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $18.57 and its 200 day moving average is $17.96.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knowles news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total value of $2,993,127.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,576,848.04. The trade was a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total transaction of $217,490.91. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 48,933 shares in the company, valued at $846,051.57. The trade was a 20.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 201,845 shares of company stock worth $3,774,234. 2.65% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knowles

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Knowles by 38.0% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after buying an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its position in shares of Knowles by 83.4% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,997 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $3,262,000 after purchasing an additional 85,940 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Knowles by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Knowles by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 792,037 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $13,671,000 after purchasing an additional 45,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in Knowles in the 2nd quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

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).