Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Associated Banc-Corp has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from nine analysts, with a target price averaging $27.78.
• The bank reported earnings per share of $0.65 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations by $0.03 and showing an increase from $0.52 the previous year.
• Associated Banc recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.6%, despite a high payout ratio of 119.48%.

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the nine analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $27.7778.

ASB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, July 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th.

Associated Banc Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Associated Banc stock opened at $25.88 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $25.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.76. Associated Banc has a 1 year low of $18.32 and a 1 year high of $28.18. The stock has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a PE ratio of 33.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.84.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 8.86%. The company had revenue of $366.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $362.78 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Associated Banc will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Associated Banc's payout ratio is currently 119.48%.

Insider Transactions at Associated Banc

In other news, EVP Matthew R. Braeger sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.34, for a total transaction of $52,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 13,346 shares of the company's stock, valued at $351,533.64. The trade was a 13.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP John A. Utz sold 13,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.24, for a total transaction of $354,120.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 111,228 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,029,850.72. This represents a 10.46% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 18,342 shares of company stock valued at $494,360 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Associated Banc

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 3.7% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 22,256 shares of the bank's stock worth $543,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Associated Banc by 89.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 209,654 shares of the bank's stock worth $5,113,000 after acquiring an additional 98,930 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in Associated Banc by 229.5% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 28,547 shares of the bank's stock worth $696,000 after acquiring an additional 19,884 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Associated Banc during the second quarter worth about $279,000. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Associated Banc by 2.0% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 27,354 shares of the bank's stock worth $667,000 after acquiring an additional 549 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.98% of the company's stock.

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.

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