VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Purchases 19,280 Shares of Kirby Corporation $KEX

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 19,280 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,530,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. grew its stake in Kirby by 61.0% during the 3rd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 2,115 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $278,000 after buying an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Kirby by 3.2% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 29,206 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $3,833,000 after buying an additional 895 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Kirby by 3.4% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 12,070 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $1,584,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Kirby by 28.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,063 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in Kirby in the third quarter worth about $607,000. 96.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Kirby from $169.00 to $182.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $170.00 price objective on shares of Kirby in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, September 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Kirby from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Stephens upped their price target on shares of Kirby from $170.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Kirby currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $171.43.

Kirby Stock Performance

Shares of KEX stock opened at $141.09 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $137.43 and a 200 day moving average of $136.77. Kirby Corporation has a 1 year low of $102.64 and a 1 year high of $157.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.68 and a quick ratio of 1.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.81.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The shipping company reported $2.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.00 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $977.21 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $938.84 million. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.94% and a net margin of 10.39%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Kirby Corporation will post 7.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Kirby Profile

Kirby Corporation is a Houston-based marine transportation and industrial services company. Through its marine transportation operations, the company is the largest tank barge operator in the United States, transporting bulk liquid products on the nation’s inland and coastal waterways.

Kirby’s marine transportation business carries petrochemicals, refined petroleum products, black oil, agricultural chemicals and other bulk liquids for industrial customers. Its operations primarily serve the U.S.