Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Stock Price

Key Points

• Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price for Associated Banc's stock from $27.00 to $28.00, suggesting a potential upside of 10.79% from its current price, while maintaining a "market perform" rating.
• The recent earnings report revealed a Q2 EPS of $0.65, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.62, and marking an increase from last year's EPS of $0.52.
• Insider activity showed CEO Andrew J. Harmening purchased 12,910 shares at an average cost of $23.25 per share, raising their stake in the company by 4.21%.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) had its target price upped by investment analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $27.00 to $28.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "market perform" rating on the bank's stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods' price objective would indicate a potential upside of 10.79% from the stock's current price.

ASB has been the subject of several other reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens reduced their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Truist Financial assumed 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, Barclays boosted their price target on Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.56.

Associated Banc Trading Down 2.4%

Shares of ASB opened at $25.27 on Friday. Associated Banc has a 1-year low of $18.32 and a 1-year high of $28.18. The company has a 50-day moving average of $24.24 and a 200 day moving average of $23.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.03. Associated Banc had a net margin of 6.02% and a return on equity of 8.47%. The business had revenue of $366.98 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.78 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Associated Banc will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Andrew J. Harmening acquired 12,910 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $23.25 per share, for a total transaction of $300,157.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 319,269 shares in the company, valued at $7,423,004.25. This represents a 4.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.45% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Associated Banc by 139.1% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,748,667 shares of the bank's stock worth $61,927,000 after purchasing an additional 1,598,951 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in Associated Banc during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,662,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Associated Banc in the 4th quarter valued at $36,144,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,444,068 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Associated Banc by 200.3% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,930,329 shares of the bank's stock valued at $42,853,000 after acquiring an additional 1,287,458 shares in the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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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