William Blair Investment Management LLC Increases Stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,226,761 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 54,404 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 2.53% of Knowles worth $44,379,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KN. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,616,805 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles in the 4th quarter worth $16,297,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,392,668 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $43,140,000 after acquiring an additional 594,484 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 64.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,092,161 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $19,692,000 after acquiring an additional 426,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in shares of Knowles by 40.8% in the 4th quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 1,225,524 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $24,425,000 after acquiring an additional 355,401 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Craig Hallum downgraded Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th.

Knowles Price Performance

KN stock opened at $16.21 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $18.25 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.36. The stock has a market cap of $1.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.12 and a beta of 1.42. Knowles Co. has a fifty-two week low of $15.00 and a fifty-two week high of $20.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter.

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).