Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Shares Acquired by State Street Corp

State Street Corp boosted its stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,230,340 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 261,877 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 5.44% of Associated Banc worth $177,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ASB. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Associated Banc in the 3rd quarter worth about $291,000. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 37.4% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 19,971 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $430,000 after purchasing an additional 5,438 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc during the third quarter worth approximately $39,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc during the third quarter worth approximately $3,245,000. Finally, Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc during the third quarter worth approximately $278,000. 82.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their target price on Associated Banc from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Piper Sandler increased 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $25.89.

Insider Activity at Associated Banc

In other news, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total value of $460,674.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. This represents a 15.97 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Associated Banc Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ASB opened at $25.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.93. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.79 and a 200-day moving average of $22.56. Associated Banc-Corp has a one year low of $19.31 and a one year high of $28.18.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 8.15%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. This is a positive change from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is currently 76.67%.

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.