Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in KeyCorp $KEY

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in shares of KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) by 54.9% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 136,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 165,294 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in KeyCorp were worth $2,542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. United Community Bank purchased a new stake in KeyCorp in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Sachetta LLC lifted its stake in KeyCorp by 1,246.1% in the third quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 1,723 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in KeyCorp in the second quarter worth $36,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in KeyCorp in the third quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Capital A Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in KeyCorp by 252.8% in the second quarter. Capital A Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,237 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,603 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of KeyCorp from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $19.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of KeyCorp from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $18.00 price target on shares of KeyCorp and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, KeyCorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.03.

KeyCorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KEY opened at $19.77 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $19.67. KeyCorp has a fifty-two week low of $12.73 and a fifty-two week high of $23.34. The company has a market capitalization of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 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.

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

KeyCorp Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 3rd will be issued a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 3rd. KeyCorp’s payout ratio is 53.95%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Trina M. Evans sold 32,695 shares of KeyCorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.74, for a total value of $710,789.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 58,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,276,551.06. The trade was a 35.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Angela G. Mago sold 62,850 shares of KeyCorp stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.55, for a total value of $1,354,417.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 261,415 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,633,493.25. This represents a 19.38% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 161,506 shares of company stock valued at $3,597,481. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.