Kirby (NYSE:KEX) Stock Price Down 4.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) traded down 4.5% on Wednesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $110.00 to $107.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kirby traded as low as $91.34 and last traded at $90.72. 62,044 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 617,714 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.01.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kirby

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Kirby by 72.5% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,282,865 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $258,900,000 after purchasing an additional 959,209 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its stake in Kirby by 10.8% during the second quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,165,929 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $245,638,000 after purchasing an additional 211,231 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Kirby by 9.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,300,103 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $131,323,000 after purchasing an additional 107,240 shares during the last quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Kirby by 32.4% during the second quarter. Encompass Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,225,338 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $138,966,000 after purchasing an additional 299,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in Kirby by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 815,008 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $86,228,000 after purchasing an additional 100,655 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $107.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.55. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.74 and a quick ratio of 1.12.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $855.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.94 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 9.25%.The firm’s revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.43 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal 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.