National Pension Service Increases Position in KeyCorp $KEY

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) by 21.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 240,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,193 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in KeyCorp were worth $4,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Rothschild Investment LLC increased its position in shares of KeyCorp by 592.3% during the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 29,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $614,000 after acquiring an additional 25,451 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of KeyCorp by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 80,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of KeyCorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,983,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $493,048,000 after acquiring an additional 115,968 shares during the last quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in shares of KeyCorp by 22.4% during the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 14,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 2,605 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of KeyCorp by 99.8% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 211,592 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,367,000 after acquiring an additional 105,707 shares during the last quarter. 79.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.66, for a total value of $494,411.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 281,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,098,676.24. This represents a 7.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on KEY shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on KeyCorp from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on KeyCorp from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on KeyCorp from $26.00 to $24.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings raised KeyCorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on KeyCorp from $24.50 to $22.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, KeyCorp has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.78.

KeyCorp Stock Performance

Shares of KEY stock opened at $20.92 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business has a 50 day moving average of $21.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.70. KeyCorp has a 52 week low of $15.47 and a 52 week high of $23.34. The company has a market cap of $22.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a PEG ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.03.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. KeyCorp had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 17.03%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. KeyCorp’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that KeyCorp will post 1.83 EPS for the current year.

KeyCorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 13% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

KeyCorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp’s payout ratio is presently 50.31%.

KeyCorp Company Profile

KeyCorp is a bank holding company headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, that operates through its primary banking subsidiary, KeyBank. It provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies and large corporations. KeyBank’s offerings span traditional deposit and lending products as well as more specialized financial solutions designed for commercial and institutional clients.

The company’s product and service mix includes retail banking products such as checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential mortgage lending, and auto financing.