Short Interest in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) Expands By 12.1%

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 21,470,000 shares, an increase of 12.1% from the August 15th total of 19,160,000 shares. Currently, 2.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 15,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other KeyCorp news, Director Carlton L. Highsmith sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.21, for a total value of $162,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 46,864 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $759,665.44. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On KeyCorp

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in KeyCorp in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,556,000. Freestone Capital Holdings LLC acquired a new position in KeyCorp during the 1st quarter worth about $561,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in KeyCorp by 87.5% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,308,797 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,598,000 after acquiring an additional 610,688 shares during the period. Commerce Bank grew its position in KeyCorp by 399.7% in the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 456,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,212,000 after acquiring an additional 364,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp increased its stake in KeyCorp by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 217,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 66,806 shares during the period. 79.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on KEY. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of KeyCorp in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of KeyCorp from $17.50 to $16.50 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of KeyCorp from $18.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of KeyCorp in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut KeyCorp from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $16.00 to $15.00 in a report on Monday, July 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.65.

KeyCorp Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE KEY opened at $16.57 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $15.63 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. KeyCorp has a 12-month low of $9.50 and a 12-month high of $17.20. The company has a 50-day moving average of $15.93 and a 200 day moving average of $15.06.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The financial services provider reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. KeyCorp had a return on equity of 8.64% and a net margin of 7.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that KeyCorp will post 1.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 13th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 27th were paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 27th. KeyCorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.80%.

About KeyCorp

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.