Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) Stake Increased by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 89.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 124,216 shares of the shipping company's stock after buying an additional 58,612 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.22% of Kirby worth $12,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KEX. Select Equity Group L.P. grew its position in shares of Kirby by 59.0% during the fourth 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. Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Kirby by 9.0% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,300,103 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $131,323,000 after acquiring an additional 107,240 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Kirby by 69.7% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 876,292 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $92,712,000 after acquiring an additional 359,770 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Kirby by 14.1% during the fourth quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 815,008 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $86,228,000 after acquiring an additional 100,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Kirby by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. ArrowMark Colorado Holdings LLC now owns 754,785 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $79,856,000 after acquiring an additional 76,436 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Kirby Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KEX opened at $95.50 on Monday. Kirby Corporation has a twelve month low of $83.94 and a twelve month high of $132.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $113.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.20.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $855.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $851.94 million. Kirby had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 earnings per share 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.

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