William Blair Investment Management LLC Sells 312,949 Shares of Knowles Corporation $KN

William Blair Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) by 20.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,233,346 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 312,949 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned about 1.45% of Knowles worth $26,431,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Knowles by 94.5% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,842 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in Knowles during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Knowles during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Knowles by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 652 shares during the period. Finally, Danske Bank A S raised its holdings in Knowles by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 3,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Knowles news, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,623 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.91, for a total transaction of $111,986.93. Following the sale, the vice president owned 47,569 shares in the company, valued at $1,470,357.79. The trade was a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 142,857 shares of Knowles stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 883,719 shares in the company, valued at $29,383,656.75. This represents a 13.92% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 162,078 shares of company stock worth $5,312,336 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.24% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Stock Down 0.0%

KN opened at $36.66 on Tuesday. Knowles Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $16.09 and a fifty-two week high of $37.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $26.03. The company has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.28 and a beta of 1.56.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The communications equipment provider reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $147.40 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. The business’s 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 anticipate that Knowles Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 price objective on shares of Knowles in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Knowles from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research upgraded Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knowles in a research report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.33.

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.