Voleon Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 12,382 Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Voleon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 12,382 shares of the shipping company's stock, valued at approximately $1,310,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC bought a new position in shares of Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Kirby during the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Kirby during the 4th quarter worth $133,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of Kirby by 433.3% during the 4th quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,600 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $169,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,746 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $185,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.15% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Kirby

In other news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.61, for a total value of $133,866.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,697.45. The trade was a 18.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.90% of the company's stock.

Kirby Stock Performance

KEX traded up $5.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $104.88. The stock had a trading volume of 1,107,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 540,006. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.99. Kirby Co. has a 1 year low of $83.94 and a 1 year high of $132.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $97.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.67.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.27 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $785.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $824.12 million. Kirby had a net margin of 8.78% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.19 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on KEX. Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of Kirby from $133.00 to $123.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on shares of Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Kirby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th.

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.