D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. reduced its position in shares of Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 32.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 214,472 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 103,929 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Knowles were worth $4,274,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,095 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 835.5% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,741 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 72.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,451 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,449 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Knowles by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,869 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 1,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FourThought Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter worth $201,000. 96.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knowles Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE KN opened at $17.12 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $15.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $17.69. Knowles Co. has a one year low of $12.19 and a one year high of $20.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.83. The firm has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of -6.46 and a beta of 1.40.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18. Knowles had a negative net margin of 34.66% and a positive return on equity of 5.52%. The business had revenue of $132.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $128.95 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KN. Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of Knowles from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on shares of Knowles from $18.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

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).