Stephens Inc. AR Raises Stock Position in Kirby Corporation $KEX

Stephens Inc. AR raised its stake in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) by 4.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,063 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Kirby were worth $1,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Swmg LLC purchased a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at $325,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at $612,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,817,000. VELA Investment Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 13,606 shares during the period. Finally, Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at $235,000. 96.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of KEX stock opened at $85.85 on Friday. Kirby Corporation has a one year low of $79.51 and a one year high of $132.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $88.16 and its 200 day moving average is $100.65. The company has a market capitalization of $4.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.74.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. Kirby had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $855.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.94 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.43 EPS. Kirby’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Kirby from $122.00 to $109.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Kirby in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Kirby from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Kirby in a report on Thursday, September 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Kirby from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.40.

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.