Madison Asset Management LLC Takes Position in Knowles Corporation $KN

Madison Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Knowles Corporation (NYSE:KN) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 197,472 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,191,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 66.2% during the first quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 217,386 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,582,000 after purchasing an additional 86,563 shares during the last quarter. Andar Capital Management HK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Knowles in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,853,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new position in Knowles in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,117,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Knowles by 34.0% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 639,468 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $16,422,000 after buying an additional 162,092 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Knowles by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 435,165 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $11,175,000 after buying an additional 29,221 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on KN shares. Craig Hallum reissued a “buy” rating and set a $38.00 target price on shares of Knowles in a report on Friday, April 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Knowles from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Knowles from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. Robert W. Baird set a $44.00 price objective on shares of Knowles in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.67.

Knowles Stock Performance

NYSE:KN opened at $34.87 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.19 and a 200-day moving average of $32.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.29 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 3.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Knowles Corporation has a twelve month low of $20.10 and a twelve month high of $42.93.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The communications equipment provider reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $166.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.97 million. Knowles had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 11.45%. Knowles’s quarterly revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. Knowles has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.340-0.380 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Knowles Corporation will post 1.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Knowles

In other news, Director Cheryl L. Shavers sold 6,618 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.27, for a total transaction of $259,888.86. Following the transaction, the director owned 35,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,402,842.21. This represents a 15.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, SVP Raymond D. Cabrera sold 6,178 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.28, for a total transaction of $224,137.84. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 127,945 shares in the company, valued at $4,641,844.60. This trade represents a 4.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 32,997 shares of company stock valued at $1,237,928. Corporate insiders own 2.24% of the company’s stock.

Knowles Company Profile

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.