Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Grows Stock Position in Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 25,508 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 160 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina’s holdings in Kirby were worth $2,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Kirby by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 961,303 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $117,724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,784 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Kirby by 20.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 10,420 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,337,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its position in shares of Kirby by 112.4% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 5,208 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $638,000 after acquiring an additional 2,756 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of Kirby during the third quarter valued at about $5,136,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Kirby by 27.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 142,265 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $17,418,000 after purchasing an additional 30,713 shares during the period. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Kirby

In related news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.61, for a total transaction of $133,866.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 5,545 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $596,697.45. This trade represents a 18.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Kirby from $136.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Kirby from $133.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of KEX opened at $94.36 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $110.89. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $5.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 0.99. Kirby Co. has a one year low of $83.94 and a one year high of $132.21.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The shipping company reported $1.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.30 by ($0.01). Kirby had a net margin of 8.78% and a return on equity of 9.71%. On average, analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.