Skylands Capital LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Skylands Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 81.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 61,600 shares of the shipping company's stock after purchasing an additional 27,650 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Kirby worth $6,222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in KEX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Kirby by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,762,651 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $186,488,000 after buying an additional 28,259 shares during the period. Select Equity Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Kirby by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 1,565,693 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $165,650,000 after acquiring an additional 581,215 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Kirby by 69.7% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 876,292 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $92,712,000 after acquiring an additional 359,770 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Kirby by 14.1% during the 4th quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 815,008 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $86,228,000 after acquiring an additional 100,655 shares during the period. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 754,785 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $79,856,000 after purchasing an additional 76,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of KEX stock traded down $1.53 on Monday, hitting $113.46. 751,235 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 542,771. 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 Corporation has a 52 week low of $83.94 and a 52 week high of $132.21. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $108.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $104.77. The firm has a market cap of $6.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.97.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business 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 business posted $1.19 EPS. Kirby's revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.