Skylands Capital LLC Sells 58,503 Shares of Kirby Corporation $KEX

Skylands Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) by 56.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 45,930 shares of the shipping company’s stock after selling 58,503 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Kirby were worth $6,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in KEX. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Kirby by 92.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,612,119 shares of the shipping company’s stock valued at $287,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,251,700 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in Kirby by 109.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,256,667 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $248,640,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178,963 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Kirby by 72.5% during the second quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,282,865 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $258,900,000 after purchasing an additional 959,209 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Kirby in the fourth quarter worth approximately $81,355,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. acquired a new position in Kirby in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,385,000. 96.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KEX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Kirby from $147.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $158.00 target price on shares of Kirby in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kirby from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Kirby from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $146.20.

Kirby Stock Performance

NYSE KEX opened at $136.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $131.59. Kirby Corporation has a 12-month low of $79.51 and a 12-month high of $157.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The shipping company reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.09. Kirby had a return on equity of 10.62% and a net margin of 10.51%.The company had revenue of $844.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $832.57 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. Kirby’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. Kirby has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.650-7.280 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kirby Corporation will post 6.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Kirby

In other Kirby news, VP William Matthew Woodruff sold 678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.37, for a total transaction of $99,916.86. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 9 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,326.33. This represents a 98.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Christian G. O’neil sold 11,287 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.93, for a total transaction of $1,647,111.91. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 17,691 shares of company stock valued at $2,579,036. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Kirby Profile

Kirby Corporation is a leading domestic maritime transporter of bulk liquid products in the United States. Through its Marine Transportation segment, the company operates one of North America’s largest fleets of inland tank barges and towing vessels. Kirby’s fleet moves petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products and agricultural chemicals along coastal and inland waterways, providing critical logistical support to energy, chemical and agricultural producers.

In addition to its marine operations, Kirby’s Distribution and Services segment offers diesel engine and power generation services, along with aftermarket parts sales.