Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on ASB. StockNews.com upgraded Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total value of $810,172.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. This represents a 26.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total transaction of $460,674.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. This trade represents a 15.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 291.3% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,563,274 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $33,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,807 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Associated Banc by 315.6% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 540,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,907,000 after purchasing an additional 410,118 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 11.2% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,401,000 after buying an additional 305,133 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Associated Banc during the third quarter worth about $6,082,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 3.3% in 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 last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Associated Banc Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE ASB opened at $25.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.94. Associated Banc has a fifty-two week low of $19.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.18.

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

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is currently 76.67%.

Associated Banc Company Profile

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.