V Square Quantitative Management LLC Acquires 764 Shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 30.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,234 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 764 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Kirby were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Kirby by 27.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 142,265 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $17,418,000 after acquiring an additional 30,713 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Kirby by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,683 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $818,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in Kirby by 27.5% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 35,353 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after buying an additional 7,629 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Kirby by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 48,693 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,961,000 after buying an additional 16,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its position in Kirby by 112.0% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 382,835 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,504,000 after buying an additional 202,272 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KEX. StockNews.com downgraded Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.25.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.61, for a total value of $133,866.84. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,697.45. This represents a 18.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total value of $1,025,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 15,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,716.48. The trade was a 34.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $108.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $108.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 1.19. Kirby Co. has a one year low of $84.56 and a one year high of $132.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.01). Kirby had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 8.78%. Analysts forecast that Kirby Co. will post 6.54 EPS for the current year.

Kirby 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.