Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Price Target Raised to $26.00

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $24.00 to $26.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ASB. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com raised shares of Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.33.

Associated Banc Stock Performance

ASB opened at $25.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93. Associated Banc has a 1-year low of $18.56 and a 1-year high of $28.18. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $24.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $607.54 million during 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 business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Associated Banc will post 2.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.67%.

Insider Activity at Associated Banc

In other news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the 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 owns 81,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. This represents a 26.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lith Karen Van sold 8,061 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total transaction of $165,089.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 54,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,108,254.72. This represents a 12.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,641 shares of company stock valued at $1,435,936 over the last 90 days. 1.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Associated Banc

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 3.3% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,230,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,282,000 after purchasing an additional 261,877 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Associated Banc by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,584,271 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $77,219,000 after buying an additional 79,658 shares in the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $65,401,000 after buying an additional 305,133 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Associated Banc by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,137,125 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $46,034,000 after purchasing an additional 17,425 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,163,807 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

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.