Invesco Ltd. Boosts Position in Associated Banc-Corp $ASB

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Associated Banc-Corp by 83.2% during Q1, acquiring a total of 1,308,946 shares valued at approximately $29.5 million.
• Analysts have varying price targets for Associated Banc, with Wells Fargo raising its target to $30.00 while the consensus rating is a "Hold" with a price target of $27.78.
• Associated Banc recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 3.7% and a payout ratio of 119.48%.

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB - Free Report) by 83.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,308,946 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 594,361 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned about 0.79% of Associated Banc worth $29,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 154.3% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,073 shares of the bank's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 385.5% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,612 shares of the bank's stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,518 shares of the bank's stock worth $84,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 38.0% during the first quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,072 shares of the bank's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 11.6% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,251 shares of the bank's stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 547 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ASB shares. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Associated Banc currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $27.78.

Associated Banc Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of ASB traded down $0.1450 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $26.3450. The stock had a trading volume of 722,748 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,409,834. Associated Banc-Corp has a 1 year low of $18.32 and a 1 year high of $28.18. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 34.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.84. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $24.93 and its 200 day moving average is $23.49.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $366.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.78 million. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.79% and a return on equity of 8.86%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 2nd. Associated Banc's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 119.48%.

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.