Sapience Investments LLC Has $2.35 Million Stock Position in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Sapience Investments LLC decreased its stake in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 24.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,218 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 7,123 shares during the quarter. Sapience Investments LLC’s holdings in Kirby were worth $2,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in shares of Kirby by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 8,459 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $895,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank increased its position in shares of Kirby by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,781 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in shares of Kirby by 1.0% during the 4th 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 increased its position in shares of Kirby by 0.5% during the 4th 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. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Kirby by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 30,914 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,271,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.15% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KEX opened at $110.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $99.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $107.60. Kirby Co. has a one year low of $83.94 and a one year high of $132.21. The firm has a market cap of $6.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.91.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The shipping company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.27 by $0.06. Kirby had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 8.78%. The firm had revenue of $785.66 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $824.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KEX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their target price on Kirby from $116.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st.

Kirby 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.