Allstate Corp Acquires 35,897 Shares of KeyCorp $KEY

Allstate Corp increased its position in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) by 94.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 74,072 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,897 shares during the period. Allstate Corp’s holdings in KeyCorp were worth $1,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Morningstar Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of KeyCorp by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Management LLC now owns 111,822 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 17,928 shares in the last quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel boosted its position in shares of KeyCorp by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Kuhn & Co Investment Counsel now owns 13,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,920 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB boosted its position in KeyCorp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 513,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,594,000 after buying an additional 5,073 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in KeyCorp by 62.1% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 220,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,552,000 after buying an additional 84,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in KeyCorp by 98.0% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 4,823 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.69% of the company’s stock.

KeyCorp Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:KEY opened at $21.33 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.83. KeyCorp has a one year low of $15.47 and a one year high of $23.34. The company has a market cap of $23.13 billion, a PE ratio of 13.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.06.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. KeyCorp had a net margin of 17.03% and a return on equity of 10.80%. KeyCorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that KeyCorp will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

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

KeyCorp Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KeyCorp news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.66, for a total transaction of $494,411.16. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on KEY shares. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of KeyCorp from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. 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. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of KeyCorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.78.

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.