Point72 DIFC Ltd Makes New Investment in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,815 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in ASB. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Associated Banc by 291.3% in the second 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. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 11.2% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,401,000 after purchasing an additional 305,133 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $6,082,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Associated Banc during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,245,000. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Associated Banc by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,149,355 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,309,000 after buying an additional 123,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 approximately $2,423,934.76. This trade represents a 15.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total transaction of $810,172.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 56,641 shares of company stock worth $1,435,936. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ASB. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on Associated Banc from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.89.

Associated Banc Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:ASB opened at $25.84 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.93. 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-Corp has a twelve month low of $19.21 and a twelve month high of $28.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.47.

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

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.23 dividend. 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 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.