Short Interest in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) Expands By 12.8%

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,250,000 shares, a growth of 12.8% from the December 15th total of 2,880,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 581,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.6 days. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Insider Activity at Knowles

In other news, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.56, for a total transaction of $370,164.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 66,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,160,066.28. This trade represents a 24.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $73,208.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 61,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,200,312.26. This represents a 5.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. 2.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Knowles

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KN. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Knowles by 114.6% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,002 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Knowles during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Knowles by 37.6% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 668 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Knowles in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KN opened at $20.39 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $19.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.67. Knowles has a 1-year low of $14.97 and a 1-year high of $20.85.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.06. The business 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 revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.25 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KN has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th.

Knowles Company 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).