Kirby (NYSE:KEX) Sets New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $118.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kirby traded as high as $101.30 and last traded at $100.55, with a volume of 693580 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.81.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on KEX. StockNews.com raised Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Kirby in a report on Monday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Kirby presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.78, for a total transaction of $48,592.86. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,780. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Kirby news, VP Ronald A. Dragg sold 1,413 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.68, for a total value of $119,652.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,651 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $901,926.68. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott P. Miller sold 487 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.78, for a total value of $48,592.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,780. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,418 shares of company stock worth $4,932,521 in the last ninety days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kirby

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KEX. Park West Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Kirby in the 4th quarter worth about $61,824,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Kirby in the 4th quarter worth about $51,781,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 30.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,100,068 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $173,886,000 after buying an additional 495,541 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 21.4% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 896,257 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $85,432,000 after buying an additional 157,880 shares during the period. Finally, RK Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Kirby in the third quarter valued at about $8,412,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Trading Up 3.5 %

The company has a market cap of $5.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.65, a PEG ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.21. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $91.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

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

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.