Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 177,215 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,749,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Kirby by 0.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,667,520 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $204,154,000 after buying an additional 12,337 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 961,303 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $117,724,000 after acquiring an additional 2,784 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 27.8% in the third 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 last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 525,708 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $55,620,000 after acquiring an additional 48,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 415,042 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $43,911,000 after acquiring an additional 10,486 shares during the last quarter. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kirby

In other Kirby news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of Kirby 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 sale, the vice president now owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at $596,697.45. The trade was a 18.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Stock Performance

NYSE KEX opened at $100.22 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $105.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.45. Kirby Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.34 and a fifty-two week high of $132.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 earnings per share 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, research analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on KEX. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com lowered Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.25.

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.