Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Acquires 2,894 Shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX)

Key Points

• Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in Kirby Corporation by 19.0%, bringing its total holdings to 18,116 shares valued at $1.83 million.
• In recent filings, various hedge funds also boosted their positions in Kirby, with some firms like JPMorgan Chase & Co. increasing stakes by 13.5%.
• Kirby reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with $1.67 EPS, surpassing estimates and indicating a year-over-year revenue increase of 3.8%.

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 19.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,116 shares of the shipping company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,894 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Kirby were worth $1,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its holdings in Kirby by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 36,597 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $3,697,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 13,035 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,379,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 29,047 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $3,073,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kirby by 28.7% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 668 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $67,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its position in shares of Kirby by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 25,508 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $2,699,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. 96.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of Kirby stock traded up $1.53 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $98.88. 245,266 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 621,692. Kirby Corporation has a 12 month low of $83.94 and a 12 month high of $132.21. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $5.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.01.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $855.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $851.94 million. Kirby had a net margin of 9.25% and a return on equity of 10.07%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.43 earnings per share. Sell-side 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.