Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Acquires 160 Shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its stake in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,508 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Kirby were worth $2,699,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in Kirby in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Kirby by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in Kirby by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,781 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $188,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Kirby in the 4th quarter worth approximately $257,000. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Kirby

In other Kirby news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.61, for a total transaction of $133,866.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at $596,697.45. This trade represents a 18.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KEX shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America reduced their target price on Kirby from $133.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, StockNews.com cut Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th.

Kirby Stock Performance

Kirby stock opened at $94.36 on Thursday. Kirby Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.94 and a fifty-two week high of $132.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $5.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $99.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.89.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). Kirby had a net margin of 8.78% and a return on equity of 9.71%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.