Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP Acquires 2,699 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,292 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 2,699 shares during the quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Associated Banc were worth $581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Associated Banc by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the bank’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 80,294 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,919,000 after purchasing an additional 494 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Associated Banc by 49.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 579 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Associated Banc by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,165 shares of the bank’s stock worth $291,000 after buying an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in Associated Banc by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 16,182 shares of the bank’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASB has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. 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 report on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James reduced their target price on Associated Banc from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.11.

Associated Banc Stock Up 3.1 %

NYSE ASB opened at $23.22 on Tuesday. Associated Banc-Corp has a one year low of $19.76 and a one year high of $28.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.88. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $24.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.99. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 5.15%. Research analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 116.46%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Associated Banc news, Director Eileen A. Kamerick sold 7,000 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.71, for a total value of $172,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,223,021.45. The trade was a 12.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total transaction of $71,004.70. Following the sale, the director now owns 66,915 shares in the company, valued at $1,678,897.35. This trade represents a 4.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Associated Banc 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.