Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Acquires New Stake in KeyCorp $KEY

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 51,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of KeyCorp by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 162,996,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,268,076,000 after purchasing an additional 900,951 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of KeyCorp by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,811,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,576,110,000 after buying an additional 1,192,323 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of KeyCorp in the second quarter worth approximately $2,039,113,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of KeyCorp by 90.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,370,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $679,768,000 after buying an additional 17,245,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in KeyCorp by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,983,690 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $493,048,000 after buying an additional 115,968 shares during the period. 79.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on KEY. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on KeyCorp from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on KeyCorp from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group upped their price target on KeyCorp from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of KeyCorp in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, KeyCorp has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.14.

KeyCorp Stock Performance

KEY opened at $22.07 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $21.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $23.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.83, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.03. KeyCorp has a 1-year low of $16.47 and a 1-year high of $24.07.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.02. KeyCorp had a net margin of 17.83% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.97 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that KeyCorp will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.205 dividend. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. KeyCorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.67%.

KeyCorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 13% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership 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.