Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Takes $800,000 Position in Kirby Corporation $KEX

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,881 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in shares of Kirby by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,617,100 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $178,172,000 after acquiring an additional 47,099 shares during the period. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its holdings in Kirby by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 87,444 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $9,635,000 after acquiring an additional 22,013 shares during the period. Strs Ohio boosted its position in Kirby by 4,237.3% in the first quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 57,990 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $7,706,000 after purchasing an additional 56,653 shares during the last quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Kirby in the second quarter worth about $2,649,000. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,182,000. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on KEX shares. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Kirby from $169.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $158.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.20.

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $139.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $138.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $137.88. Kirby Corporation has a 52 week low of $79.51 and a 52 week high of $157.69.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.63 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $922.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $870.38 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.18%.The firm’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.67 earnings per share. Kirby has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.280-7.280 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Kirby

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.