Keene & Associates Inc. Lowers Holdings in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Keene & Associates Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 18.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,829 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 1,079 shares during the period. Keene & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Kirby were worth $578,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KEX. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Kirby by 70.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 74,875 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $8,965,000 after acquiring an additional 31,011 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Kirby by 882.8% during the 2nd quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 68,502 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $8,202,000 after purchasing an additional 61,532 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in shares of Kirby in the 2nd quarter valued at $175,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Kirby by 78.4% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 23,776 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $2,847,000 after buying an additional 10,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nicholas Investment Partners LP acquired a new stake in Kirby during the second quarter valued at $5,270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KEX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Kirby from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com raised Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Kirby from $131.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $123.80.

Kirby Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $119.03 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.70, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. Kirby Co. has a twelve month low of $72.11 and a twelve month high of $130.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.97 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $118.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.11.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $824.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $821.65 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 8.70% and a net margin of 8.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.95 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Kirby Co. will post 5.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kirby

In other news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.31, for a total transaction of $360,930.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 63,399 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,627,533.69. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.31, for a total transaction of $360,930.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 63,399 shares in the company, valued at $7,627,533.69. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Christian G. O’neil sold 2,770 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total transaction of $305,281.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 16,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,772,066.59. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.