Virtu Financial LLC Buys New Position in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 11,170 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its position in Associated Banc by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 35,539 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $849,000 after buying an additional 2,806 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Associated Banc during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $794,000. Xponance Inc. increased its holdings in Associated Banc by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 22,864 shares of the bank’s stock worth $546,000 after purchasing an additional 2,604 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Associated Banc by 85.2% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 79,073 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,890,000 after purchasing an additional 36,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Associated Banc by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 216,046 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,163,000 after purchasing an additional 53,043 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ASB shares. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. 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 note on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Associated Banc from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.11.

Associated Banc Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE ASB opened at $22.38 on Friday. Associated Banc-Corp has a 12-month low of $19.76 and a 12-month high of $28.18. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.99.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 5.15%. Equities research analysts expect that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.46%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.