Kirby Corporation $KEX Shares Bought by DAVENPORT & Co LLC

Key Points

• DAVENPORT & Co LLC increased its stake in Kirby Corporation by 7.8%, acquiring an additional 14,695 shares to hold 203,308 shares worth approximately $23 million.
• Kirby has received mixed ratings from analysts, with Citigroup and Bank of America issuing neutral and buy ratings respectively, and a consensus target price of $114.50.
• For the last quarter, Kirby reported $1.67 EPS, exceeding expectations, and revenue of $855.46 million, up 3.8% year-over-year.

DAVENPORT & Co LLC grew its stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 7.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 203,308 shares of the shipping company's stock after acquiring an additional 14,695 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC owned about 0.36% of Kirby worth $23,057,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kirby by 25.8% in the second quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 9,204 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $1,044,000 after purchasing an additional 1,885 shares during the period. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Kirby by 12.7% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 714,127 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $80,989,000 after buying an additional 80,315 shares during the last quarter. Kendall Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Kirby during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $200,000. Maseco LLP acquired a new position in Kirby in the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Covea Finance grew its position in Kirby by 162.1% in the second quarter. Covea Finance now owns 36,700 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $4,162,000 after acquiring an additional 22,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on KEX shares. Citigroup assumed coverage on Kirby in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $91.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Kirby in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Kirby in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Kirby from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Kirby from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 3rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kirby has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $114.50.

Kirby Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $83.44 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.12, a current ratio of 1.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Kirby Corporation has a 52-week low of $81.90 and a 52-week high of $132.21. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average of $92.94 and a 200 day moving average of $102.09.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $855.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $851.94 million. Kirby had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.