Perbak Capital Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 3,488 Kirby Corporation $KEX

Key Points

• Perbak Capital Partners LLP has invested $352,000 in Kirby Corporation, acquiring 3,488 shares in the first quarter.
• Bank of America has raised its price target on Kirby from $116.00 to $125.00 and assigned it a "buy" rating, with a consensus target price of $130.00 among analysts.
• Kirby reported earnings of $1.67 per share, exceeding expectations, and year-over-year revenue growth of 3.8% for the latest quarter.

Perbak Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,488 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $352,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Kirby in the first quarter worth about $2,183,000. Twin Tree Management LP bought a new position in shares of Kirby in the first quarter worth about $1,110,000. Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Kirby in the first quarter worth about $205,000. State of Wyoming raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 35.9% in the first quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,901 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 767 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 51.7% in the first quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 4,446 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 1,516 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on KEX shares. Zacks Research raised Kirby from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Kirby from $110.00 to $107.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $121.00.

Kirby Price Performance

KEX traded down $1.11 on Friday, hitting $89.09. 1,380,780 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 765,248. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $106.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.09. Kirby Corporation has a one year low of $83.94 and a one year high of $132.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The shipping company reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $855.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $851.94 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 9.25%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.43 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Kirby Corporation will post 6.57 EPS for the current 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.