In a shareholder-friendly move, Kirby Corporation (KEX) board of directors has announced a stock repurchase authorization of up to an additional $8 million shares of common stock. With this bold initiative, KEX is not only enhancing shareholder value but also signaling confidence in its ongoing business strategy.
This latest authorization is in addition to the previously announced 5 million share repurchase authorization, of which almost 0.8 million shares were available for repurchase as of Sept. 5, 2025. As a result, Kirby is now authorized to repurchase almost 8.8 million shares collectively.
Kirby’s chief executive officer, David Grzebinski, stated, “The additional share repurchase authorization reflects confidence in the ultimate earnings power of our company and our ability to consistently generate strong free cash flow. We remain committed to our long-term capital allocation strategy that includes returning free cash flow to shareholders over time.”
The announcement of the new buyback program is a value-enhancing move and reflects the company’s confidence in its commercial and operational execution.
We would like to remind investors that KEX has been consistently making efforts to reward its shareholders through share buybacks, which are encouraging. As a reflection of its shareholder-friendly stance, in 2022, Kirby repurchased 0.4 million shares for $22.9 million. During 2023, Kirby repurchased 1,485,159 shares for $112.8 million. During 2024, KEX purchased 1.6 million shares for $174.6 million.
By resorting to share buybacks, companies signal confidence in their financial health and provide reassurance to investors. Buybacks not only reduce the total outstanding share count, thereby increasing earnings per share, but also signal management's belief in the intrinsic value of the stock. We believe such shareholder-friendly initiatives should boost investor confidence and positively impact this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s bottom line. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Shareholder-Friendly Moves Announced by Other Transportation Companies in 2025
KEX is not the only player from the Zacks Transportation sector that has rewarded its shareholders with dividend payouts or share buyback programs in 2025. To name a few, on Aug. 11, 2025, Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN) board of directors approved a new share repurchase program. Per the new program, WERN is now authorized to repurchase up to 5 million shares.
On approval of this new program, Werner’s board has withdrawn the earlier share repurchase authorization, which had almost 1.8 million shares remaining available for repurchase as of June 30, 2025 (unveiled during WERN’s second-quarter 2025 earnings release on July 29, 2025). The new authorization is expected to continue until the company’s board announces its withdrawal.
On July 16, 2025, Union Pacific Corporation’s (UNP) board of directors approved a dividend hike of 3%, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend to $1.38 per share ($5.52 annualized) from $1.34 ($5.36 annualized). The raised dividend will be paid on Sept. 30, 2025, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Aug. 29. The move reflects UNP’s intention to utilize free cash to enhance its shareholders’ returns. We would like to remind investors that UNP has paid dividends for 126 consecutive years.
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Union Pacific Corporation (UNP): Free Stock Analysis Report Kirby Corporation (KEX): Free Stock Analysis Report Werner Enterprises, Inc. (WERN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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