Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) EVP John Utz Sells 2,135 Shares

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) EVP John Utz sold 2,135 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.41, for a total value of $56,385.35. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 109,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,900,927.22. The trade was a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Associated Banc Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of ASB stock traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $27.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 225,043 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,541,134. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.81. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.20. Associated Banc-Corp has a one year low of $18.32 and a one year high of $27.46.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $390.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.94 million. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 7.23%.During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.56 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio is presently 102.13%.

Institutional Trading of Associated Banc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 1.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,151,111 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $101,256,000 after buying an additional 67,219 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Associated Banc by 139.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,748,667 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $61,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598,951 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,629,549 shares of the bank’s stock worth $67,606,000 after purchasing an additional 645,676 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 3.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,120 shares of the bank’s stock worth $52,295,000 after purchasing an additional 72,685 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 679.4% during the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,223,694 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,938,393 shares in the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASB has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Associated Banc from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (up from $29.00) on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.20.

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.