Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $124.00.

KEX has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Kirby from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Kirby in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Kirby from $128.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 19th.

Insider Activity at Kirby

In other Kirby news, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 1,923 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.83, for a total value of $207,357.09. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 15,488 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Ronald A. Dragg sold 2,715 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was 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 approximately $1,138,744.25. This represents a 20.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 57,147 shares of company stock worth $6,204,544. 0.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEX. Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Kirby by 19.0% during the first quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 292,236 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $29,519,000 after purchasing an additional 46,673 shares during the last quarter. Luminus Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 292.0% during the 3rd quarter. Luminus Management LLC now owns 116,956 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,760,000 after purchasing an additional 87,120 shares in the last quarter. Bailard Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kirby in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $692,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Kirby by 12.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,443 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $9,683,000 after buying an additional 9,802 shares during the last quarter. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $111.11 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $107.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.18. Kirby has a fifty-two week low of $79.51 and a fifty-two week high of $122.50. The firm has a market cap of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.88.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The shipping company reported $1.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $871.16 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $843.29 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.05% and a net margin of 9.22%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kirby will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kirby Company Profile

Kirby Corporation is a leading domestic maritime transporter of bulk liquid products in the United States. Through its Marine Transportation segment, the company operates one of North America’s largest fleets of inland tank barges and towing vessels. Kirby’s fleet moves petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals along coastal and inland waterways, providing critical logistical support to energy, chemical and agricultural producers.

In addition to its marine operations, Kirby’s Distribution and Services segment offers diesel engine and power generation services, along with aftermarket parts sales.