Insider Selling: Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) VP Sells 1,244 Shares of Stock

Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.61, for a total transaction of $133,866.84. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,697.45. This trade represents a 18.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Kirby Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:KEX opened at $107.09 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $110.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $117.43. The firm has a market cap of $6.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.19. Kirby Co. has a 12-month low of $83.24 and a 12-month high of $132.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Kirby

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in Kirby by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,667,520 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $204,154,000 after purchasing an additional 12,337 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Kirby by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 961,303 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $117,724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Kirby by 27.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 699,052 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $85,585,000 after purchasing an additional 152,146 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Kirby by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 525,708 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $55,620,000 after purchasing an additional 48,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Kirby by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 415,042 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $43,911,000 after purchasing an additional 10,486 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on KEX shares. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com cut shares of Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Kirby has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $129.25.

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.