Morgan Stanley Issues Positive Forecast for KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) Stock Price

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) had its price target lifted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $24.00 to $25.00 in a research note issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.83% from the stock’s previous close.

KEY has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wall Street Zen lowered KeyCorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Stephens started coverage on KeyCorp in a report on Monday, June 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 target price for the company. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of KeyCorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $300.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.55.

KeyCorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KEY opened at $23.18 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $21.88 and a 200 day moving average of $21.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.03. KeyCorp has a 12-month low of $16.47 and a 12-month high of $23.72.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. KeyCorp had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 17.03%.KeyCorp’s quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that KeyCorp will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

KeyCorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $3.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 13% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 281,564 shares in the company, valued at $6,098,676.24. The trade was a 7.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KeyCorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in KeyCorp by 90.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,370,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $679,768,000 after purchasing an additional 17,245,128 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of KeyCorp by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,788,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,546,000 after buying an additional 13,067,326 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in KeyCorp during the fourth quarter worth about $262,688,000. North Reef Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in KeyCorp during the first quarter worth approximately $253,632,000. Finally, Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in KeyCorp in the 4th quarter worth about $150,843,000. Institutional investors own 79.69% of the company’s stock.

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.