Kirby (NYSE:KEX) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on the stock from $100.00 to $118.00. Stifel Nicolaus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Kirby traded as high as $101.30 and last traded at $100.55, with a volume of 693580 shares. The stock had previously closed at $95.81.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. StockNews.com raised Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Kirby has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $116.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Christian G. O’neil sold 8,994 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.15, for a total transaction of $765,839.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,369,126.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, insider Christian G. O’neil sold 8,994 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.15, for a total transaction of $765,839.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,369,126.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 7,000 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.72, for a total value of $593,040.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 84,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,150,283.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 56,418 shares of company stock worth $4,932,521 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kirby

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEX. Park West Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kirby in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,824,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kirby in the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,781,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Kirby by 30.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,100,068 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $173,886,000 after purchasing an additional 495,541 shares during the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Kirby by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 896,257 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $85,432,000 after purchasing an additional 157,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RK Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Kirby in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $8,412,000. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Kirby Trading Up 2.8 %

The company has a fifty day moving average of $91.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.24. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $5.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The shipping company reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $799.18 million for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Kirby Co. will post 4.94 EPS for the current 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.