KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) Short Interest Up 28.6% in March

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 24,207,280 shares, an increase of 28.6% from the February 26th total of 18,826,139 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 17,014,567 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KEY has been the topic of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird set a $19.00 price target on KeyCorp and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on KeyCorp from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on KeyCorp from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of KeyCorp from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, KeyCorp presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.87.

KeyCorp Stock Up 3.3%

KEY stock opened at $20.04 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $21.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 0.83. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.90 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.70. KeyCorp has a fifty-two week low of $12.73 and a fifty-two week high of $23.34.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. KeyCorp had a return on equity of 10.28% and a net margin of 15.97%.The business had revenue of $5.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 131.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that KeyCorp will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

KeyCorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 3rd. KeyCorp’s payout ratio is 53.95%.

Insider Activity at KeyCorp

In other KeyCorp news, Director Trina M. Evans sold 32,695 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.74, for a total transaction of $710,789.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 58,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,276,551.06. This trade represents a 35.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew J. Paine III sold 65,961 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.23, for a total transaction of $1,532,274.03. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 166,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,869,723.09. This represents a 28.36% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 161,506 shares of company stock valued at $3,597,481 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KEY. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of KeyCorp by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 1,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in KeyCorp by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in KeyCorp by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC lifted its position in KeyCorp by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 44,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in KeyCorp by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 12,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. 79.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About KeyCorp

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.