Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) by 0.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 132,089 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of Kirby worth $13,342,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in KEX. Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Kirby by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,781 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in shares of Kirby by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,035 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $1,379,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Kirby by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 29,047 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,073,000 after acquiring an additional 138 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kirby by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 30,914 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,271,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Kirby by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Bank of America raised their price target on Kirby from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 16th.

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $116.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Kirby Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.94 and a 12 month high of $132.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $111.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $105.36.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $785.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $824.12 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 9.81% and a net margin of 9.02%. Kirby’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.