Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Purchases Shares of 16,600 Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 16,600 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Kirby by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,015,915 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $498,118,000 after buying an additional 64,420 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 738,377 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $57,947,000 after acquiring an additional 24,040 shares during the period. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 10,891 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $902,000 after acquiring an additional 6,828 shares during the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kirby during the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Scout Investments Inc. bought a new position in Kirby during the 3rd quarter valued at about $6,191,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Kirby

In other Kirby news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 18,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 directly owns 66,399 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,673,130.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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. Also, 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 transaction of $48,592.86. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at $99,780. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,418 shares of company stock worth $4,932,521 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Kirby from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, BTIG Research lifted their target price on Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of KEX stock opened at $95.81 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Kirby Co. has a one year low of $66.42 and a one year high of $101.17. The company has a market capitalization 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The shipping company reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.01. Kirby had a return on equity of 7.12% and a net margin of 7.21%. The company had revenue of $799.18 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $778.70 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. Kirby’s revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current 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.