Franklin Resources Inc. Has $164.44 Million Stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Knowles Co. (NYSE:KN) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,181,260 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock after buying an additional 904,446 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 10.17% of Knowles worth $164,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in Knowles in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Knowles by 202.6% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,613 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,080 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Knowles by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,938 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 1,224 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in Knowles by 34.1% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 13,975 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $207,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Knowles during the third quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Knowles from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th.

Knowles Price Performance

Knowles stock opened at $17.59 on Thursday. Knowles Co. has a one year low of $12.78 and a one year high of $18.48. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $16.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 2.75 and a quick ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 19.99 and a beta of 1.47.

Knowles (NYSE:KN) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $196.40 million for the quarter. Knowles had a return on equity of 5.98% and a net margin of 10.54%.

About Knowles

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).