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

Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) was the target of a significant 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. Currently, 3.8% of the company’s 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 Price Performance

NYSE:KN opened at $20.39 on Monday. 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 has a 1 year low of $14.97 and a 1 year high of $20.85. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.37.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 157,699 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 820,698 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Robert J. Perna sold 21,080 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.56, for a total value of $370,164.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 66,063 shares in the company, valued at $1,160,066.28. This trade represents a 24.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 182,541 shares of company stock worth $3,436,500. 2.57% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knowles

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC raised its stake in Knowles by 20.0% during 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 raised its position in shares of Knowles by 4.8% during the second 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 last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Knowles by 37.6% in the third 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 grew its position in Knowles by 4.3% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 17,985 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $324,000 after buying an additional 748 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Knowles by 10.0% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 9,276 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $167,000 after acquiring an additional 845 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on KN. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Knowles from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com cut Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 26th. Finally, Craig Hallum raised Knowles to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

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).