Lecap Asset Management Ltd. Buys New Position in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Lecap Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,781 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in KEX. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 420.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 208 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. ORG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Kirby during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of Kirby during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in shares of Kirby in the 3rd quarter worth $52,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on KEX shares. StockNews.com lowered Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $129.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Richard Ross Stewart sold 8,000 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $128.21, for a total transaction of $1,025,680.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,985,716.48. The trade was a 34.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $596,697.45. This represents a 18.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,285 shares of company stock worth $3,114,877 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Kirby Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of Kirby stock opened at $106.32 on Friday. Kirby Co. has a 12-month low of $83.24 and a 12-month high of $132.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $110.30 and its 200-day moving average is $117.36.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.30 by ($0.01). Kirby had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 8.78%. Equities analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.54 earnings per share 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.