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

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) saw a significant increase in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,250,000 shares, an increase of 12.8% from the December 31st total of 2,880,000 shares. Approximately 3.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 581,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com cut Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Craig Hallum raised Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.98, for a total transaction of $2,993,127.02. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at $15,576,848.04. This trade represents a 16.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,762 shares of Knowles 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 61,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,200,312.26. The trade was a 5.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.57% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Knowles by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,475,339 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $169,135,000 after buying an additional 265,814 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 54,279.3% in the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,621,626 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $47,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,616,805 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Knowles by 33.1% during the 3rd 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Knowles by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,051,346 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $36,986,000 after acquiring an additional 191,383 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Knowles by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,018,615 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $36,403,000 after acquiring an additional 7,658 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Knowles Price Performance

KN stock traded down $0.65 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $18.28. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 542,708 shares, compared to its average volume of 541,348. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a PE ratio of -7.81 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50 day moving average is $19.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.48. Knowles has a fifty-two week low of $14.97 and a fifty-two week high of $20.85.

Knowles Company 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).