Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Receives $26.00 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ASB. Piper Sandler upped their price objective 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays upped 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 note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st.

Associated Banc Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE ASB opened at $25.56 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $25.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.36. Associated Banc has a 52-week low of $19.40 and a 52-week high of $28.18. The firm has a market cap of $3.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $336.52 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Associated Banc will post 2.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.60%. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio is 76.67%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the firm’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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. This trade represents a 26.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the firm’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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Associated Banc

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the 2nd quarter valued at $38,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the 4th quarter valued at $64,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Associated Banc by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,190 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 1,438 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Associated Banc by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $112,000 after buying an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.