Stephens Inc. AR Buys 514 Shares of Kirby Corporation $KEX

Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,063 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 514 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Kirby were worth $1,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Swmg LLC bought a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at about $325,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at about $612,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,817,000. VELA Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Kirby by 10.4% during the 2nd quarter. VELA Investment Management LLC now owns 143,860 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $16,315,000 after acquiring an additional 13,606 shares during the period. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at about $235,000. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on KEX. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Kirby in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target on shares of Kirby from $122.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Kirby in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $91.00 price target for the company. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Kirby from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Kirby from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.40.

Kirby Trading Up 0.3%

Kirby stock opened at $85.85 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $88.16 and a 200 day moving average of $100.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.00. Kirby Corporation has a 12-month low of $79.51 and a 12-month high of $132.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $855.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.94 million. Kirby had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Kirby Profile

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation service and towing vessel transporting bulk liquid product, as well as operates tank barge throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii.