Wells Fargo & Company Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Stock

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $28.00 to $30.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "overweight" rating on the bank's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's price objective points to a potential upside of 15.83% from the company's current price.

ASB has been the topic of several other reports. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a report on Monday, April 28th. Stephens lowered their price objective on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial started coverage on Associated Banc in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $26.00 price target for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Associated Banc from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.22.

Associated Banc Price Performance

ASB traded up $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $25.90. 1,915,799 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,560,553. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $23.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $4.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.80. Associated Banc has a fifty-two week low of $18.32 and a fifty-two week high of $28.18.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $348.97 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $347.86 million. Associated Banc had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 8.47%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Associated Banc will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Associated Banc

In other Associated Banc news, CEO Andrew J. Harmening acquired 12,910 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $23.25 per share, for a total transaction of $300,157.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 319,269 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,423,004.25. The trade was a 4.21% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the fourth quarter valued at $36,144,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,066,871 shares of the bank's stock valued at $431,798,000 after purchasing an additional 1,444,068 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 11.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,251 shares of the bank's stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the 4th quarter valued at about $353,000. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,838,422 shares of the bank's stock valued at $354,638,000 after purchasing an additional 1,272,441 shares in 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.