FBR & Co. reissued their hold rating on shares of Kirby Co. (NYSE:KEX) in a research report released on Thursday, Analyst Ratings Net reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on KEX. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Kirby from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 12th. Credit Suisse dropped their price objective on shares of Kirby from $84.00 to $75.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Stephens dropped their price objective on shares of Kirby from $66.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Friday. RBC Capital cut shares of Kirby from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Macquarie upgraded shares of Kirby from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $64.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $68.63.

In related news, Director William M. Lamont, Jr. sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.06, for a total transaction of $165,180.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,314 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,045,588.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

A number of large investors have bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark acquired a new stake in Kirby during the third quarter worth $0. Linscomb & Williams Inc. raised its stake in Kirby by 25.3% in the fourth quarter. Linscomb & Williams Inc. now owns 12,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $659,000 after buying an additional 2,530 shares during the last quarter. Fox Run Management acquired a new stake in Kirby during the fourth quarter worth $710,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in Kirby during the fourth quarter worth $784,000. Finally, Fruth Investment Management raised its stake in Kirby by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. Fruth Investment Management now owns 15,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $825,000 after buying an additional 2,530 shares during the last quarter.

Shares of Kirby (NYSE:KEX) traded up 3.75% during trading on Thursday, reaching $50.65. 1,192,293 shares of the company traded hands. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $50.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.61. Kirby has a 12-month low of $44.63 and a 12-month high of $84.24.

Kirby (NYSE:KEX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 27th. The company reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.03. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The business had revenue of $484.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $518.17 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 27.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Kirby will post $3.48 EPS for the current year.

Kirby Corporation is the domestic tank barge operator, transporting bulk liquid products. The Company, through its subsidiaries, operates in two segments: Marine Transportation and Diesel Engine Services. The Marine Transportation segment is a provider of marine transportation services, operating tank barges and towing vessels transporting bulk liquid products. The Diesel Engine Services segment, sells replacement parts, provides service mechanics to overhaul and repair medium-speed and high-speed diesel engines, transmissions, reduction gears, pumps and compression products, maintains facilities to rebuild component parts or entire medium-speed and high-speed diesel engines, transmissions and entire reduction gears, and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units. Its customers include oil service companies, offshore fishing companies, nuclear power industry, compression companies and construction companies, among others.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:KEX

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