Rice Hall James & Associates LLC Makes New Investment in Kirby Corporation $KEX

Rice Hall James & Associates LLC bought a new stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,631 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KEX. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Kirby by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,617,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $178,172,000 after purchasing an additional 47,099 shares during the last quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its position in shares of Kirby by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 87,444 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,635,000 after buying an additional 22,013 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 4,237.3% during the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 57,990 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,706,000 after buying an additional 56,653 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Kirby during the 2nd quarter worth $9,182,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kirby in the 4th quarter worth about $81,355,000. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

KEX has been the topic of a number of research reports. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $158.00 price target on shares of Kirby in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Kirby from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Kirby presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.20.

Kirby Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:KEX opened at $139.84 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Kirby Corporation has a 52-week low of $79.51 and a 52-week high of $157.69. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $138.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.95. The company has a market capitalization of $7.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.84.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $922.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.38 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.18%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.67 earnings per share. Kirby has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.280-7.280 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Kirby Corporation will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Kirby

Kirby Corporation is a leading domestic maritime transporter of bulk liquid products in the United States. Through its Marine Transportation segment, the company operates one of North America’s largest fleets of inland tank barges and towing vessels. Kirby’s fleet moves petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals along coastal and inland waterways, providing critical logistical support to energy, chemical and agricultural producers.

In addition to its marine operations, Kirby’s Distribution and Services segment offers diesel engine and power generation services, along with aftermarket parts sales.