Jennison Associates LLC Purchases 107,240 Shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Jennison Associates LLC raised its position in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 9.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,300,103 shares of the shipping company's stock after acquiring an additional 107,240 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 2.29% of Kirby worth $131,323,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEX. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in shares of Kirby by 295.3% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 253 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kirby during the first quarter worth about $28,000. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of Kirby during the first quarter worth about $32,000. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Kirby by 147.2% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 351 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Kirby during the first quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KEX traded up $1.09 on Monday, reaching $116.93. 43,134 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 541,872. Kirby Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $83.94 and a fifty-two week high of $132.21. The company's 50 day moving average is $112.72 and its 200-day moving average is $105.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.58 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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