Insider Selling: Knowles (NYSE:KN) CEO Sells 142,857 Shares of Stock

Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 142,857 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total transaction of $4,749,995.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 883,719 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,383,656.75. This trade represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Jeffrey Niew also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 6th, Jeffrey Niew sold 75,000 shares of Knowles stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.50, for a total transaction of $1,987,500.00.

Knowles Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Knowles stock traded up $0.13 on Thursday, reaching $34.09. 458,421 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 714,694. Knowles Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $16.09 and a fifty-two week high of $34.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $27.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.26 and a beta of 1.56. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. Knowles had a net margin of 9.10% and a return on equity of 10.66%. The firm had revenue of $153.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $147.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Knowles has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.280-0.320 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Knowles Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KN. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price objective on shares of Knowles in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded Knowles from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Knowles from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.33.

Institutional Trading of Knowles

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KN. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Knowles by 365.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,394,341 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $32,502,000 after buying an additional 1,094,715 shares during the last quarter. Harvey Partners LLC bought a new position in Knowles in the 3rd quarter valued at $14,510,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Knowles by 10.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,108,184 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $119,072,000 after purchasing an additional 484,500 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 52.8% during the third quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 1,360,918 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $31,723,000 after purchasing an additional 470,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Knowles by 95.9% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 958,387 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $22,340,000 after buying an additional 469,286 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

About Knowles

Knowles Corporation (NYSE: KN) is a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced micro-acoustic, audio processing and precision device solutions. The company’s product portfolio includes microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, balanced armature receivers, acoustic filters, and custom audio processing integrated circuits. These solutions are designed to enable clear speech, enhanced voice capture and intelligent audio performance in a variety of end markets.

Founded in 1946, Knowles has evolved from its roots in vacuum tube components to become a pure-play audio technology provider following its spin-off from Dover Corporation in 2014.