Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Shares Purchased by Strs Ohio

Strs Ohio raised its stake in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 29.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 32,373 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 7,395 shares during the period. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.05% of Kirby worth $2,540,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEX. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Kirby in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Kirby in the third quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, State of Wyoming increased its holdings in Kirby by 327.3% in the fourth quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 1,722 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $111,000 after buying an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. 96.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KEX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BTIG Research increased their target price on shares of Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Kirby from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com raised shares of Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research note on Monday, February 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kirby news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 487 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.78, for a total value of $48,592.86. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,780. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Kirby news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 487 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.78, for a total value of $48,592.86. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,780. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,828 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.60, for a total transaction of $145,508.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 56,418 shares of company stock valued at $4,932,521. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of KEX opened at $95.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.85. Kirby Co. has a 1-year low of $66.42 and a 1-year high of $101.17. The stock has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The shipping company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $799.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $778.70 million. Kirby had a net margin of 7.21% and a return on equity of 7.12%. Kirby’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Kirby Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Kirby

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.