StockNews.com Downgrades Knowles (NYSE:KN) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of Knowles (NYSE:KN) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Craig Hallum raised Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday.

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KN opened at $14.58 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $16.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.02. Knowles has a 52 week low of $12.19 and a 52 week high of $20.86. The stock has a market cap of $1.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.50 and a beta of 1.41.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.23 by ($0.01). Knowles had a negative net margin of 34.66% and a positive return on equity of 5.52%. The business had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Knowles

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KN. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC purchased a new stake in Knowles in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,798,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles in the fourth quarter valued at $16,297,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Knowles by 33.1% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,392,668 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $43,140,000 after purchasing an additional 594,484 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Knowles in the fourth quarter valued at $7,983,000. Finally, Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Knowles by 40.8% during the fourth quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,225,524 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,425,000 after buying an additional 355,401 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).