American Century Companies Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Kirby Corporation $KEX

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) by 64.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,399 shares of the shipping company’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,833 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.09% of Kirby worth $5,716,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 19.0% in the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 292,236 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,519,000 after buying an additional 46,673 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in Kirby in the second quarter valued at $692,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS lifted its holdings in Kirby by 72.7% in the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 5,700 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $646,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Kirby by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,443 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,683,000 after purchasing an additional 9,802 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Select Equity Group L.P. grew its stake in shares of Kirby by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,954,698 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $197,444,000 after purchasing an additional 389,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Kirby

In other news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 29,451 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.41, for a total transaction of $3,163,331.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 79,709 shares in the company, valued at $8,561,543.69. The trade was a 26.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Ronald A. Dragg sold 2,715 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.29, for a total transaction of $299,437.35. Following the transaction, the vice president directly owned 10,325 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,744.25. The trade was a 20.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 46,002 shares of company stock worth $4,959,871 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Kirby from $109.00 to $122.00 and gave the company 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 research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Kirby in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised Kirby from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $128.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Kirby in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.40.

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KEX opened at $112.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.70. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $97.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.21. The stock has a market cap of $6.12 billion, a PE ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.88. Kirby Corporation has a one year low of $79.51 and a one year high of $122.50.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The shipping company reported $1.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.05. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.05% and a net margin of 9.22%.The company had revenue of $871.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $843.29 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kirby 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.