Insider Selling: Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Director Sells $74,089.60 in Stock

Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 676 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.60, for a total value of $74,089.60. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 23,488 shares in the company, valued at $2,574,284.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Richard Ross Stewart also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, February 22nd, Richard Ross Stewart sold 3,000 shares of Kirby stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.62, for a total value of $256,860.00.

Kirby Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE KEX opened at $110.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $95.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.73. Kirby Co. has a 52-week low of $69.22 and a 52-week high of $114.35.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The shipping company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $808.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $784.49 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 8.00% and a net margin of 8.01%. Kirby’s quarterly revenue was up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Kirby Co. will post 5.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Kirby

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Kirby by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,097,723 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $478,549,000 after buying an additional 81,808 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Kirby by 0.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,213,354 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $348,866,000 after buying an additional 38,664 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Kirby by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,624,271 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $205,954,000 after buying an additional 62,378 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,100,068 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $173,886,000 after purchasing an additional 495,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,828,758 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $143,521,000 after purchasing an additional 63,611 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on KEX. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Kirby from $100.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wolfe Research began coverage on Kirby in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $126.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Kirby in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, BTIG Research upped their target price on Kirby from $100.00 to $115.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $116.00.

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.