Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) Stake Reduced by King Luther Capital Management Corp

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its stake in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX - Free Report) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,586,683 shares of the shipping company's stock after selling 98,187 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp owned about 2.74% of Kirby worth $194,258,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Kirby by 201.8% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,213 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,941,000 after buying an additional 10,841 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in Kirby by 1,247.8% during the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 12,373 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $1,481,000 after buying an additional 11,455 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Kirby during the 1st quarter worth $755,000. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in Kirby during the 2nd quarter worth $852,000. Finally, Samlyn Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Kirby by 7.8% in the second quarter. Samlyn Capital LLC now owns 319,752 shares of the shipping company's stock worth $38,284,000 after purchasing an additional 23,086 shares in the last quarter. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kirby news, CEO David W. Grzebinski sold 26,358 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.46, for a total value of $3,175,084.68. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 63,399 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,637,043.54. The trade was a 29.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Christian G. O'neil sold 14,031 shares of Kirby stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.29, for a total value of $1,729,881.99. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 12,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,571,454.34. This represents a 52.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,596 shares of company stock valued at $7,515,760 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Kirby from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $123.80.

Kirby Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of KEX stock opened at $129.30 on Thursday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $122.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $120.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.67. Kirby Co. has a twelve month low of $72.11 and a twelve month high of $132.21. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.82, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.17.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The shipping company reported $1.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.08. Kirby had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 9.37%. The business had revenue of $831.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $824.42 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Kirby Co. will post 5.45 EPS for the current 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.

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