Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the five research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $123.80.

KEX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Kirby from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kirby

In other Kirby news, VP Amy D. Husted sold 2,853 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $361,018.62. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $668,131.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Amy D. Husted sold 2,853 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.54, for a total value of $361,018.62. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,280 shares in the company, valued at approximately $668,131.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Christian G. O’neil sold 14,031 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.29, for a total transaction of $1,729,881.99. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 12,746 shares in the company, valued at $1,571,454.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 46,012 shares of company stock worth $5,571,267. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Kirby

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 630,360 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $49,471,000 after purchasing an additional 68,420 shares during the period. Scout Investments Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 66.5% during the 1st quarter. Scout Investments Inc. now owns 108,814 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $10,299,000 after purchasing an additional 43,465 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 166.6% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 10,934 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 6,832 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 896,257 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $85,432,000 after purchasing an additional 157,880 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 32.4% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 66,833 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $6,371,000 after purchasing an additional 16,373 shares during the period. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Kirby Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $124.76 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $118.43 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a PE ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.17. Kirby has a 1-year low of $72.11 and a 1-year high of $130.90. 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 (NYSE:KEX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The shipping company reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.11. Kirby had a net margin of 8.72% and a return on equity of 8.70%. The company had revenue of $824.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $821.65 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.95 EPS. Kirby’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kirby will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current 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.