Ballentine Partners LLC Grows Stock Position in KeyCorp $KEY

Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) by 18.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 19,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,018 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in KeyCorp were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in KeyCorp by 4.8% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 68,857 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,101,000 after acquiring an additional 3,145 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in KeyCorp during the first quarter worth about $2,171,000. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in KeyCorp during the second quarter worth about $431,000. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new stake in KeyCorp during the second quarter worth about $1,973,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in KeyCorp by 31.3% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 111,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,787,000 after acquiring an additional 26,615 shares during the last quarter. 79.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered KeyCorp from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $18.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on KeyCorp from $21.00 to $20.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. UBS Group upgraded KeyCorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $16.00 to $22.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. DA Davidson increased their target price on KeyCorp from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on KeyCorp from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Trina M. Evans sold 17,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.67, for a total value of $317,390.00. Following the sale, the director owned 82,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,544,363.73. This trade represents a 17.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew J. Paine III sold 44,953 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.29, for a total value of $867,143.37. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 245,044 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,726,898.76. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 174,102 shares of company stock valued at $3,299,664 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

KeyCorp Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of KEY opened at $18.89 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $18.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.87. KeyCorp has a one year low of $12.73 and a one year high of $20.04. The company has a market capitalization of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -269.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.15.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. KeyCorp had a return on equity of 9.65% and a net margin of 1.49%.The company had revenue of $1.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.25 EPS. KeyCorp’s quarterly revenue was up 20.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that KeyCorp will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. KeyCorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -1,171.43%.

KeyCorp Profile

KeyCorp operates as the holding company for KeyBank National Association that provides various retail and commercial banking products and services in the United States. It operates in two segments, Consumer Bank and Commercial Bank. The company offers various deposits, investment products and services; commercial leasing, investment management, consumer finance; and personal finance and financial wellness, student loan refinancing, mortgage and home equity, lending, credit card, treasury, business advisory, wealth management, asset management, cash management, portfolio management, and trust and related services to individuals and small and medium-sized businesses.