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

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) was the recipient 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. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 581,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Knowles Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE KN traded up $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.39. 397,550 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 607,889. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.71 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a current ratio of 2.35. Knowles has a twelve month low of $14.97 and a twelve month high of $20.85.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.97 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.8% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on KN shares. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Susquehanna cut their price target on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 26th.

Insider Activity at Knowles

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

Institutional Trading of Knowles

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Knowles by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,643 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Knowles by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 14,489 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after buying an additional 661 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Knowles by 37.6% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd boosted its position in Knowles by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 17,985 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $324,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Knowles by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,276 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after buying an additional 845 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).