Fmr LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Fmr LLC increased its stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,565,981 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,057 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned about 0.09% of Associated Banc worth $292,211,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASB. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Associated Banc by 82.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,190 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 1,438 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in Associated Banc in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,000. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Associated Banc during the 2nd quarter worth $140,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 30.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,084 shares of the bank’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on ASB shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.89.

Associated Banc Stock Down 0.1 %

ASB stock opened at $26.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.91. Associated Banc-Corp has a one year low of $17.51 and a one year high of $28.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $23.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $22.29.

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

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 2nd. This is a boost from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.33%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total transaction of $460,674.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. This trade represents a 15.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lith Karen Van sold 8,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total value of $165,089.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,114 shares in the company, valued at $1,108,254.72. This represents a 12.97 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,641 shares of company stock valued at $1,435,936. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

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.