JPMorgan Chase & Co. Reduces Stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 621,613 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 9,866 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 0.41% of Associated Banc worth $13,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Associated Banc by 291.3% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,563,274 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,163,807 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in Associated Banc by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,401,000 after purchasing an additional 305,133 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Associated Banc during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,082,000. State Street Corp lifted its position in Associated Banc by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,230,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,282,000 after acquiring an additional 261,877 shares during the period. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,245,000. 82.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Associated Banc

In related news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total transaction of $810,172.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. This represents a 26.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total transaction of $460,674.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. This represents a 15.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $26.00.

Associated Banc Trading Down 2.8 %

Shares of Associated Banc stock opened at $23.26 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $25.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.10. Associated Banc-Corp has a 12-month low of $19.40 and a 12-month high of $28.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.94.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $607.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.52 million. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 8.15%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.96%. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is currently 76.67%.

About Associated Banc

Associated Banc-Corp, a bank holding company, provides various banking and nonbanking products to individuals and businesses in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. The company offers lending solutions, including commercial loans and lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction loans, letters of credit, leasing, asset based lending and equipment finance, loan syndications products, residential mortgages, home equity loans and lines of credit, personal and installment loans, auto finance and business loans, and business lines of credit.