Inceptionr LLC Buys 901 Shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX)

Inceptionr LLC raised its stake in shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) by 13.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,482 shares of the shipping company’s stock after buying an additional 901 shares during the period. Inceptionr LLC’s holdings in Kirby were worth $792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Kirby by 27.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 142,265 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $17,418,000 after buying an additional 30,713 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 27.5% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 35,353 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $4,328,000 after purchasing an additional 7,629 shares during the period. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 51.2% in the third quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 48,693 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $5,961,000 after purchasing an additional 16,497 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 112.0% in the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 382,835 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $40,504,000 after purchasing an additional 202,272 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Kirby by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 29,659 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $3,143,000 after purchasing an additional 5,804 shares during the period. 96.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Kirby news, VP Scott P. Miller sold 1,244 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now owns 5,545 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,697.45. The trade was a 18.32 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:KEX opened at $97.03 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $106.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.41. Kirby Co. has a 52-week low of $86.02 and a 52-week high of $132.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.45. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.18.

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 9.71% and a net margin of 8.78%. On average, analysts anticipate that Kirby Co. will post 6.57 EPS 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.