Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Boosts Stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. increased its position in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 28.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,475 shares of the shipping company's stock after buying an additional 3,694 shares during the period. Lecap Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Kirby were worth $1,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Kirby by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 415,042 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $43,911,000 after acquiring an additional 10,486 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Kirby during the 4th quarter worth $18,749,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Kirby by 15,397.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 67,879 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $6,856,000 after buying an additional 67,441 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Kirby by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,402 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 379 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Kirby during the fourth quarter valued at about $349,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Kirby Trading Up 0.3%

KEX traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $115.07. 1,127,267 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 542,448. Kirby Corporation has a 1 year low of $83.94 and a 1 year high of $132.21. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $107.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $104.97. The firm has a market cap of $6.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.97. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.06. Kirby had a net margin of 9.02% and a return on equity of 9.81%. The firm had revenue of $785.66 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $824.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.19 EPS. The firm's revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS 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.