Brokerages Set Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Target Price at $123.80

Shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $123.80.

KEX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Kirby from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 22nd.

Insider Activity at Kirby

In other Kirby news, COO Christian G. O’neil sold 2,770 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total value of $305,281.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,066.59. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Christian G. O’neil sold 2,770 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total value of $305,281.70. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 16,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,772,066.59. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Amy D. Husted sold 2,853 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total transaction of $361,018.62. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 5,280 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $668,131.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,012 shares of company stock worth $5,571,267 in the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kirby

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KEX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Kirby by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,097,723 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $478,549,000 after purchasing an additional 81,808 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Kirby by 3.6% in 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 buying an additional 63,611 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in Kirby by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,401,844 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $133,624,000 after acquiring an additional 54,755 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Kirby by 10.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 955,587 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $91,086,000 after acquiring an additional 90,586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Stock Performance

Kirby stock opened at $122.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.87. The stock has a market cap of $7.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.70 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Kirby has a 1-year low of $72.11 and a 1-year high of $130.90.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.11. Kirby had a return on equity of 8.70% and a net margin of 8.72%. The company had revenue of $824.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $821.65 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Kirby will post 5.46 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.