Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Shares Bought by VELA Investment Management LLC

VELA Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 125,199 shares of the shipping company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,992 shares during the quarter. Kirby comprises approximately 3.7% of VELA Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its largest position. VELA Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.22% of Kirby worth $13,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEX. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Kirby by 112.0% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 382,835 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,504,000 after acquiring an additional 202,272 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Kirby by 68.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 477,233 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $58,428,000 after acquiring an additional 194,410 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired a new position in Kirby during the 4th quarter worth $16,390,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Kirby by 27.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 699,052 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $85,585,000 after acquiring an additional 152,146 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Kirby by 92.5% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 221,460 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $23,247,000 after acquiring an additional 106,411 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on KEX shares. StockNews.com lowered Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.25.

Kirby Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $102.31 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The firm has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $106.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.26. Kirby Co. has a fifty-two week low of $86.02 and a fifty-two week high of $132.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its 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 9.71% and a net margin of 8.78%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kirby

In other news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.61, for a total transaction 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. The trade was 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. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.