Waterford Advisors LLC Invests $1.73 Million in KeyCorp $KEY

Waterford Advisors LLC bought a new position in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 83,952 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,733,000. KeyCorp comprises about 0.7% of Waterford Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest position.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in shares of KeyCorp during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in shares of KeyCorp in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of KeyCorp in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in KeyCorp in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Kelleher Financial Advisors purchased a new position in KeyCorp in the 3rd quarter worth about $32,000. 79.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

KeyCorp Price Performance

NYSE KEY opened at $22.61 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.03. KeyCorp has a 52-week low of $16.01 and a 52-week high of $23.34.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 10.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for 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. The firm’s revenue was up 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that KeyCorp will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KeyCorp announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 13% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. KeyCorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.31%.

Insider Activity at KeyCorp

In related news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of KeyCorp stock in a transaction on 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 owned 281,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,098,676.24. This trade represents a 7.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on KEY shares. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on KeyCorp from $300.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of KeyCorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Stephens began coverage on shares of KeyCorp in a report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 price target on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of KeyCorp from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Twelve investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.13.

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.