Skylands Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Skylands Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 33,950 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,592,000. Skylands Capital LLC owned about 0.06% of Kirby as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Kirby by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 12,462 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Kirby by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Kirby by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 8,459 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $895,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Kirby by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,668 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Kirby by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,683 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $818,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KEX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Kirby presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $129.25.

Kirby Stock Down 3.3 %

KEX stock opened at $102.68 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $107.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $116.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.19. Kirby Co. has a 1-year low of $85.40 and a 1-year high of $132.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.30 by ($0.01). Kirby had a net margin of 8.78% and a return on equity of 9.71%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Kirby

In related 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 value of $133,866.84. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at $596,697.45. The trade was a 18.32 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.