Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Acquires New Stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund acquired a new stake in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,750 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Kirby by 28.7% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in Kirby by 30.9% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 11,075 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,616 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in Kirby by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,726 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $679,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Kirby by 10.3% during the 1st quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 32,713 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $3,304,000 after purchasing an additional 3,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Kirby by 2.6% during the 4th 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. 96.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Bank of America boosted their price target on Kirby from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th.

Kirby Stock Performance

KEX traded down $0.49 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $116.90. 527,752 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 545,263. The company's 50-day moving average is $109.29 and its 200 day moving average is $104.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.96. Kirby Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.94 and a 52 week high of $132.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $785.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $824.12 million. Kirby had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 9.81%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

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.