Verition Fund Management LLC Takes Position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Verition Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 12,567 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Knowles by 37.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,445 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 668 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Knowles in the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Knowles news, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $73,208.52. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.29, for a total value of $217,490.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 48,933 shares in the company, valued at approximately $846,051.57. The trade was a 20.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 201,845 shares of company stock valued at $3,774,234. Corporate insiders own 2.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Knowles Stock Performance

NYSE KN opened at $19.82 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.47 and a beta of 1.44. Knowles Co. has a 1-year low of $14.97 and a 1-year high of $20.26. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.92.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $142.50 million for 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%. Knowles’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 EPS.

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).