Bessemer Group Inc. Sells 90,373 Shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Bessemer Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 38.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,082 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 90,373 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. owned 0.25% of Kirby worth $14,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Kirby by 28.9% during the first quarter. Lecap Asset Management Ltd. now owns 16,475 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,664,000 after acquiring an additional 3,694 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Kirby by 10.3% during the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 32,713 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $3,304,000 after acquiring an additional 3,054 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kirby by 18.4% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 87,722 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $8,861,000 after acquiring an additional 13,636 shares in the last quarter. Covea Finance purchased a new stake in shares of Kirby during the first quarter worth $1,414,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kirby by 28.7% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $67,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of Kirby stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.07. The stock had a trading volume of 1,127,267 shares, compared to its average volume of 542,551. The firm has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 0.97. Kirby Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.94 and a 12 month high of $132.21. The business's 50-day moving average is $107.27 and its 200 day moving average is $104.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $785.66 million for 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

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.