William Blair Investment Management LLC Lowers Stake in Kirby Corporation $KEX

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management reduced its Kirby stake by 9.4% in Q4, selling 31,446 shares and leaving it with 304,211 shares worth about $33.5 million.
• Kirby reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $1.50 beating estimates and revenue of $844.1 million topping forecasts; the company also raised FY2026 guidance to 6.65-7.28 EPS.
• Analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with five Buy ratings and two Hold ratings, though some recent reports included both upgrades and downgrades. The consensus price target is $146.20, close to the stock’s recent trading level.

William Blair Investment Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 304,211 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 31,446 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.56% of Kirby worth $33,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Kirby by 2.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,667,853 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $472,982,000 after buying an additional 134,261 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,282,865 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $258,900,000 after purchasing an additional 959,209 shares during the last quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Select Equity Group L.P. now owns 2,165,929 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $245,638,000 after purchasing an additional 211,231 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 1,570,001 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $131,017,000 after purchasing an additional 122,733 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 108.4% during the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 839,662 shares of the shipping company's stock valued at $70,070,000 after purchasing an additional 436,735 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

KEX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Kirby from $147.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Zacks Research upgraded Kirby from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings lowered Kirby from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $136.00 target price on shares of Kirby in a research note on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Kirby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $146.20.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of KEX stock opened at $143.44 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $140.45 and a 200 day moving average of $126.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.59 and a quick ratio of 1.01. Kirby Corporation has a 1 year low of $79.51 and a 1 year high of $157.69.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $844.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $832.57 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 10.51%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. Kirby has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.650-7.280 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 6.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Kirby

In other Kirby news, COO Christian G. O'neil sold 11,287 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.93, for a total transaction of $1,647,111.91. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP William Matthew Woodruff sold 678 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.37, for a total value of $99,916.86. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9 shares in the company, valued at $1,326.33. This represents a 98.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 66,130 shares of company stock worth $8,912,325 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Kirby Profile

Kirby Corporation is a leading domestic maritime transporter of bulk liquid products in the United States. Through its Marine Transportation segment, the company operates one of North America's largest fleets of inland tank barges and towing vessels. Kirby's fleet moves petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals along coastal and inland waterways, providing critical logistical support to energy, chemical and agricultural producers.

In addition to its marine operations, Kirby's Distribution and Services segment offers diesel engine and power generation services, along with aftermarket parts sales.

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