HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 110,594 Shares of KeyCorp $KEY

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) by 60.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 293,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 110,594 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in KeyCorp were worth $6,068,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in shares of KeyCorp during the fourth quarter valued at $476,000. Woodline Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of KeyCorp by 41.4% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 84,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,346,000 after acquiring an additional 24,627 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KeyCorp by 58.0% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 1,890 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of KeyCorp by 6.5% during the second quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 15,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 926 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new position in shares of KeyCorp during the second quarter valued at $186,000. 79.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KEY has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on KeyCorp from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Truist Financial cut their price objective on KeyCorp from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on KeyCorp from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised KeyCorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.78.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other KeyCorp news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.66, for a total transaction of $494,411.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 281,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,098,676.24. The trade was a 7.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.56% of the company’s stock.

KeyCorp Stock Performance

KeyCorp stock opened at $21.50 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $21.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. KeyCorp has a 12-month low of $15.47 and a 12-month high of $23.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.06.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that KeyCorp will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp’s payout ratio is currently 50.31%.

KeyCorp announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, May 13th that permits the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 13% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

KeyCorp 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.