Legato Capital Management LLC Takes Position in KeyCorp $KEY

Key Points

• Legato Capital Management initiated a new position in KeyCorp during the fourth quarter, buying 119,300 shares valued at about $2.46 million.
• Institutional interest in KeyCorp remains high, with large holders like Vanguard and Wellington Management increasing stakes; institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.69% of the stock.
• KeyCorp reported better-than-expected quarterly results and also announced a new $3 billion share repurchase program plus a quarterly dividend of $0.205 per share, yielding about 3.8% annualized.

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 119,300 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,462,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in KeyCorp by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 124,811,543 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,576,110,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,323 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in KeyCorp by 90.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,370,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $679,768,000 after purchasing an additional 17,245,128 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in KeyCorp by 169.2% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,788,957 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $388,546,000 after purchasing an additional 13,067,326 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in KeyCorp by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,799,619 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $295,295,000 after purchasing an additional 397,523 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in KeyCorp by 12.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,843,378 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $136,632,000 after purchasing an additional 879,678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.69% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of KeyCorp in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded KeyCorp from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on KeyCorp from $24.50 to $22.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered KeyCorp from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on KeyCorp from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $42.78.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Angela G. Mago sold 22,826 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.66, for a total value of $494,411.16. Following the sale, the insider owned 281,564 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,098,676.24. This trade represents a 7.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.56% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

KeyCorp Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:KEY opened at $21.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The business's 50 day moving average is $20.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.53. KeyCorp has a 52 week low of $15.28 and a 52 week high of $23.34. The company has a market cap of $23.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.06.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.03. KeyCorp had a return on equity of 10.80% and a net margin of 17.03%.The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. KeyCorp's quarterly revenue was up 10.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that KeyCorp will post 1.82 EPS for the current year.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 2nd. KeyCorp's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.31%.

KeyCorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, May 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 13% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.