Knowles (NYSE:KN) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Knowles (NYSE:KN) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Separately, Craig Hallum raised shares of Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $17.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th.

Knowles Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:KN opened at $14.41 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -5.44 and a beta of 1.41. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $15.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.83 and a quick ratio of 1.23. Knowles has a one year low of $12.19 and a one year high of $20.86.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $142.50 million during the quarter.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Knowles

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC acquired a new position in shares of Knowles in the fourth quarter valued at $28,798,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Knowles in the 4th quarter valued at about $16,297,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Knowles in the 4th quarter valued at about $7,983,000. Royce & Associates LP lifted its position in Knowles by 40.8% during the fourth 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. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Knowles by 2.9% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,475,339 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $169,135,000 after acquiring an additional 265,814 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

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).