How to buy Kirby Corporation stock

Kirby Corporation is a marine shipping business based in the US. Kirby Corporation shares (KEX) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Kirby Corporation employs 5,550 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around USD$2.3 billion.

How to buy shares in Kirby Corporation

1. Compare share trading platforms. If you're a beginner, look for a platform with low commissions, expert ratings and investment tools to track your portfolio. Narrow down top brands with our comparison table.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and bank information. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Kirby Corporation. Find the stock by name or ticker symbol: KEX. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Kirby Corporation reaches your desired price. To spread out your purchase, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimize risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Kirby Corporation, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Kirby Corporation. Optimize your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Kirby Corporation share price

Use our graph to track the performance of KEX stocks over time.

Kirby Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2020-11-24.

52-week range	USD$32.76 - USD$92.3
50-day moving average	USD$41.1636
200-day moving average	USD$45.7007
Wall St. target price	USD$49
PE ratio	27.6582
Dividend yield	N/A (0%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	USD$1.92

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Is it a good time to buy Kirby Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Kirby Corporation by TradingView

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

Is Kirby Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing Kirby Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Kirby Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Kirby Corporation's P/E ratio

Kirby Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 28x. In other words, Kirby Corporation shares trade at around 28x recent earnings.

That's comparable to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29).

Kirby Corporation's PEG ratio

Kirby Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 8.5482. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Kirby Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Kirby Corporation's EBITDA

Kirby Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is USD$361.2 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a Kirby Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Kirby Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	USD$2.3 billion
Operating margin TTM	6.04%
Gross profit TTM	USD$808.4 million
Return on assets TTM	1.46%
Return on equity TTM	-9.02%
Profit margin	-12.49%
Book value	$51.222
Market capitalisation	USD$3.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Kirby Corporation shares

There are currently 2.3 million Kirby Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as Kirby Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 18.5% up from 2.0 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Kirby Corporation shares can be evaluated.

Kirby Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Kirby Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Kirby Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Kirby Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 718087.11656442). Kirby Corporation's SIR currently stands at 3.26. In other words for every 100,000 Kirby Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 3260 shares are currently held short.

However Kirby Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Kirby Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable Kirby Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Kirby Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.04% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Kirby Corporation shares in existence, roughly 40 shares are currently held short) or 0.045% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Kirby Corporation shares, roughly 45 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Kirby Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short Kirby Corporation stock.

Kirby Corporation share dividends

We're not expecting Kirby Corporation to pay a dividend over the next 12 months.

Have Kirby Corporation's shares ever split?

Kirby Corporation's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 1 June 2006. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Kirby Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Kirby Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted Kirby Corporation's share price.

Kirby Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Kirby Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $32.76 up to $92.3. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while Kirby Corporation's is 1.2937. This would suggest that Kirby Corporation's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Kirby Corporation overview

Kirby Corporation operates domestic tank barges in the United States. Its Marine Transportation segment provides marine transportation services and towing vessels transporting bulk liquid products, as well as operates tank barges throughout the Mississippi River System, on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, coastwise along three United States coasts, and in Alaska and Hawaii. This segment also transports petrochemicals, black oil, refined petroleum products, and agricultural chemicals by tank barges; and operates offshore dry-bulk barge and tugboat units that are engaged in the offshore transportation of dry-bulk cargoes in the United States coastal trade. As of December 31, 2019, this segment owned and operated 1,053 inland tank barges with 23.4 million barrels of capacity, 299 inland towboats, 49 coastal tank barges with 4.7 million barrels of capacity, 47 coastal tugboats, 4 offshore dry-bulk cargo barges, 4 offshore tugboats, and 1 docking tugboat. The company's Distribution and Services segment sells replacement parts; provides service mechanics to overhaul and repair engines, transmissions, reduction gears, and related oilfield services equipment; rebuilds component parts or diesel engines, transmissions and reduction gears, and related equipment used in oilfield services, marine, power generation, on-highway, and other industrial applications; rents industrial compressors, railcar movers, and high capacity lift trucks; and manufactures and remanufactures oilfield service equipment, including pressure pumping units. It serves oilfield service, on-highway transportation, marine transportation, commercial fishing, construction, and power generation companies, as well as oil and gas operators and producers, and the United States government. The company was formerly known as Kirby Exploration Company, Inc. and changed its name to Kirby Corporation in 1990. Kirby Corporation was founded in 1921 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Kirby Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 1.117% of Kirby Corporation shares are held by insiders and 86.909% by institutions.

• How many people work for Kirby Corporation?

  Latest data suggests 5,550 work at Kirby Corporation.

• When does the fiscal year end for Kirby Corporation?

  Kirby Corporation's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is Kirby Corporation based?

  Kirby Corporation's address is: 55 Waugh Drive, Houston, TX, United States, 77007

• What is Kirby Corporation's ISIN number?

  Kirby Corporation's international securities identification number is: US4972661064

• What is Kirby Corporation's CUSIP number?

  Kirby Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 497266106