Stifel Nicolaus Boosts Kirby (NYSE:KEX) Price Target to $118.00

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) had its target price boosted by Stifel Nicolaus from $100.00 to $118.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the shipping company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on KEX. BTIG Research increased their target price on Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Stephens restated an overweight rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Kirby from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus target price of $116.00.

Kirby Price Performance

Kirby stock opened at $99.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $5.80 billion, a PE ratio of 26.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.21. Kirby has a 12 month low of $66.42 and a 12 month high of $101.30. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $91.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.09.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The shipping company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $799.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $778.70 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 7.12% and a net margin of 7.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Kirby will post 4.94 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Kirby

In related news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total transaction of $593,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,150,283.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total transaction of $593,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,150,283.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,828 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.60, for a total value of $145,508.80. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $79,600. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 56,418 shares of company stock worth $4,932,521 over the last ninety days. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kirby

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Park West Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $61,824,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $51,781,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Kirby by 30.9% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,100,068 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $173,886,000 after acquiring an additional 495,541 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its stake in Kirby by 21.4% in the first quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 896,257 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $85,432,000 after acquiring an additional 157,880 shares during the period. Finally, RK Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kirby in the third quarter valued at approximately $8,412,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

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.