Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases New Holdings in Kirby Corporation $KEX

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Kirby Corporation (NYSE:KEX) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 139,136 shares of the shipping company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,918,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of KEX. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Kirby in the second quarter valued at about $733,274,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,251,700 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Kirby by 109.4% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,256,667 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $248,640,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,963 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Kirby by 72.5% during the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,282,865 shares of the shipping company’s stock worth $258,900,000 after acquiring an additional 959,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Kirby during the 4th quarter worth approximately $81,355,000. 96.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on KEX. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $158.00 target price on shares of Kirby in a research note on Friday, May 1st. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $170.00 price target on shares of Kirby in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Kirby from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 8th. 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 research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Kirby from $165.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.20.

Kirby Price Performance

NYSE KEX opened at $137.83 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $138.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.61. Kirby Corporation has a 52-week low of $79.51 and a 52-week high of $157.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a current ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 0.84.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The shipping company reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.04. Kirby had a net margin of 10.18% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $922.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $870.38 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. Kirby has set its FY 2026 guidance at 7.280-7.280 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Kirby Corporation will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kirby Company 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.