Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stake in Knowles Corporation $KN

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 219,560 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after selling 15,419 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Knowles were worth $4,705,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Knowles by 24.0% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,364 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Knowles by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 16,612 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Knowles by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC now owns 219,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $4,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Knowles during the 4th quarter valued at $591,000. Finally, Danske Bank A S grew its position in shares of Knowles by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 3,500 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $75,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Knowles Stock Performance

NYSE KN opened at $38.19 on Tuesday. Knowles Corporation has a 52-week low of $16.73 and a 52-week high of $39.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.67 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a fifty day moving average of $32.44 and a 200-day moving average of $27.16.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $153.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.40 million. Knowles had a net margin of 9.10% and a return on equity of 10.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 earnings per share. Knowles has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.280-0.320 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Knowles Corporation will post 0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KN shares. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Knowles in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Knowles from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Knowles in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $33.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Knowles news, CEO Jeffrey Niew sold 142,857 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.25, for a total value of $4,749,995.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 883,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,383,656.75. The trade was a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Air A. Jr. Bastarrica sold 3,623 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.91, for a total transaction of $111,986.93. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 47,569 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,470,357.79. This represents a 7.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 173,058 shares of company stock valued at $5,809,156 over the last three months. Insiders own 2.24% 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.