Victor Alexander, Head of Consumer Bank at KeyCorp (KEY), recently bought 8,500 shares. The buy increased his holdings by 7 percent, and came to a total cost just over $100,555.
This marks the second insider buy of the year, following the 2,000 share buy from a director back in March. Going further bank, insiders have largely been steady sellers of KeyCorp shares, with a mix of direct sales and stock option exercises.
Overall, insiders own 0.3 percent of the regional bank.
Shares have been cut nearly in half over the past year, amid rising interest rates and a banking crisis that’s hit regional players hard.
That’s taken KeyCorp shares down to just under their book value, and shares trade for less than 7 times forward earnings. Plus, the stock yields 7.8 percent, and there’s been a slight dividend increase over the past year.
Action to take: Investors may want to look at accumulating shares at or under current prices.
The stock is in a downtrend, but with the yield so high and shares now under book value, a strategy of buying on down days could play out well for patient investors over time.
For traders, the immediate downtrend may not be fully played out yet. The June $10 puts, last going for about $1.00, offers mid-to-high double-digit returns on a further slide in the coming weeks.
Traders may want to take quick profits on any big down day for shares.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.