Insider Selling: Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Director Sells 2,830 Shares of Stock

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total transaction of $71,004.70. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 66,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,678,897.35. The trade was a 4.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Associated Banc Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of ASB traded up $0.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.49. 226,156 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,478,540. The company has a market cap of $3.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.94. Associated Banc-Corp has a fifty-two week low of $19.76 and a fifty-two week 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.74 and its 200-day moving average is $23.67.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 8.24%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is 116.46%.

Institutional Trading of Associated Banc

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 8.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,871 shares of the bank’s stock worth $431,798,000 after buying an additional 1,444,068 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,838,422 shares of the bank’s stock worth $354,638,000 after buying an additional 1,272,441 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,230,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,282,000 after buying an additional 261,877 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,849,649 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,026,000 after buying an additional 265,378 shares during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 11.2% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,401,000 after buying an additional 305,133 shares during the period. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ASB shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Associated Banc from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have issued a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.00.

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.