Virtu Financial LLC Takes $789,000 Position in KeyCorp $KEY

Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 38,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $789,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DV Equities LLC purchased a new position in KeyCorp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Maseco LLP purchased a new stake in shares of KeyCorp in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. GoalVest Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of KeyCorp in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of KeyCorp in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of KeyCorp by 1,263.5% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,718 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 1,592 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.69% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on KEY. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of KeyCorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen downgraded KeyCorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on KeyCorp from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Stephens began coverage on KeyCorp in a research note on Monday, June 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Twelve equities research 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.13.

Insider Activity at KeyCorp

In other news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider directly owned 281,564 shares in the company, valued at $6,098,676.24. This trade represents a 7.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

KeyCorp Stock Performance

KEY opened at $22.84 on Tuesday. 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 fifty day moving average price of $21.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.16. KeyCorp has a 1 year low of $16.01 and a 1 year high of $23.34. The stock has a market cap of $24.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.01, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.03.

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

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

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

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

KeyCorp Company 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.