Ethic Inc. Acquires New Shares in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Ethic Inc. acquired a new stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 10,552 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter valued at $16,297,000. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 275,317 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,487,000 after buying an additional 5,019 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 340.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 145,401 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $2,622,000 after buying an additional 112,354 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $647,000 after buying an additional 5,825 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 428,615 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $8,542,000 after buying an additional 11,510 shares during the period. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of Knowles stock opened at $17.12 on Friday. Knowles Co. has a one year low of $12.19 and a one year high of $20.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $15.47 and its 200 day moving average is $17.69. The stock has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.83.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Knowles had a positive return on equity of 5.52% and a negative net margin of 34.66%. The company had revenue of $132.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.95 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. Knowles’s revenue for the quarter was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KN. StockNews.com cut Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird raised 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. Finally, Craig Hallum raised Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th.

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).