Creative Planning Buys 630 Shares of Kirby Corporation $KEX

Creative Planning grew its position in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,374 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in Kirby were worth $836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of KEX. Select Equity Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Kirby by 24.8% during the first quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,954,698 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $197,444,000 after buying an additional 389,005 shares during the period. Park West Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Kirby by 69.3% during the 1st quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC now owns 776,000 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $78,384,000 after acquiring an additional 317,721 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Kirby in the 1st quarter worth about $31,741,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kirby in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,817,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Kirby by 90.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 527,789 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $52,441,000 after purchasing an additional 250,601 shares in the last quarter. 96.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Kirby Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:KEX opened at $113.80 on Tuesday. 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 Corporation has a one year low of $79.51 and a one year high of $126.97. The company has a market cap of $6.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.11, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $95.71 and a 200-day moving average of $102.08.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The shipping company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $871.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.29 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.06% and a net margin of 9.22%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 1,923 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total transaction of $207,357.09. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,670,071.04. This represents a 11.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Amy D. Husted sold 10,413 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.42, for a total value of $1,118,564.46. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 11,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,263,259.20. This trade represents a 46.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 44,502 shares of company stock worth $4,788,691 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KEX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research raised Kirby from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $125.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Kirby from $109.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Kirby from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kirby has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.40.

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.