Kirby (NYSE:KEX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Wolfe Research

Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Kirby (NYSE:KEX) in a research report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $126.00 price target on the shipping company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price target suggests a potential upside of 31.51% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on KEX. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Kirby in a research note on Monday, February 5th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Kirby from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Kirby has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KEX opened at $95.81 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $91.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $82.97. Kirby has a 52-week low of $66.42 and a 52-week high of $101.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.68. The company has a market cap of $5.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.21.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Kirby

In other news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 18,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total value of $1,537,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 66,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,673,130.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,828 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.60, for a total value of $145,508.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,600. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 18,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.44, for a total transaction of $1,537,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 66,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,673,130.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,418 shares of company stock valued at $4,932,521 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,097,723 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $478,549,000 after acquiring an additional 81,808 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,313,776 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $370,370,000 after acquiring an additional 14,447 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 923.2% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,248,727 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $273,406,000 after acquiring an additional 3,833,471 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,624,271 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $205,954,000 after acquiring an additional 62,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,100,068 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $173,886,000 after acquiring an additional 495,541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Company 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.