Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of KeyCorp Call Options (NYSE:KEY)

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) saw unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 11,546 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 34% compared to the typical volume of 8,594 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On KeyCorp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of KeyCorp by 90.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 17,245,128 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in KeyCorp by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 50,954,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $814,756,000 after purchasing an additional 14,651,281 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in KeyCorp by 169.2% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 20,788,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $388,546,000 after buying an additional 13,067,326 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in KeyCorp during the second quarter worth $195,642,000. Finally, HoldCo Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of KeyCorp in the second quarter valued at $86,995,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.69% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KEY has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on KeyCorp from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 29th. DA Davidson reduced their price target on KeyCorp from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of KeyCorp in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of KeyCorp from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of KeyCorp from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $20.78.

KeyCorp Trading Up 3.9%

KEY traded up $0.77 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $20.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,429,167 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,146,158. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.91, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.11. KeyCorp has a twelve month low of $12.73 and a twelve month high of $20.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $17.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62.

KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.03. KeyCorp had a net margin of 10.08% and a return on equity of 10.14%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.47) EPS. KeyCorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 172.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that KeyCorp will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

KeyCorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.205 per share. This represents a $0.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 2nd. KeyCorp’s dividend payout ratio is 101.23%.

KeyCorp Company 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.