Hantz Financial Services Inc. Increases Stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 165,032 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,131 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Knowles worth $2,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Knowles by 3.7% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 87,679 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133 shares during the period. CWM LLC increased its position in Knowles by 38.0% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,036 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Knowles by 10.2% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 34,600 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 3,204 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in Knowles by 83.4% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 188,997 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $3,262,000 after buying an additional 85,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Knowles by 2.5% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,200 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $780,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Knowles Price Performance

Shares of KN stock opened at $19.46 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $17.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of -8.32 and a beta of 1.42. Knowles Co. has a twelve month low of $14.97 and a twelve month high of $19.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 12,579 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 20.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total value of $2,993,127.02. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,576,848.04. This represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 201,845 shares of company stock worth $3,774,234 in the last three months. 2.65% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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).