Associated Banc’s (ASB) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Stephens

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Stephens in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $23.00 price target on the bank’s stock. Stephens’ price target suggests a potential upside of 5.46% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on ASB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $23.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $21.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.13.

Associated Banc Stock Performance

ASB traded up $0.44 on Friday, reaching $21.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,020,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,426,675. Associated Banc has a 1 year low of $14.47 and a 1 year high of $22.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.74.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03. Associated Banc had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 8.90%. The firm had revenue of $322.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $325.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Associated Banc’s quarterly revenue was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Associated Banc will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Associated Banc

In other Associated Banc news, Director John B. Williams sold 2,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $52,785.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 62,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,229,225.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, EVP John A. Utz sold 14,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total value of $297,012.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 89,880 shares in the company, valued at $1,905,456. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John B. Williams sold 2,700 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $52,785.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 62,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,229,225.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 21,710 shares of company stock worth $454,897 over the last ninety days. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Associated Banc

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of ASB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,639,171 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $334,522,000 after buying an additional 184,813 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Associated Banc by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,835,562 shares of the bank’s stock worth $231,776,000 after purchasing an additional 229,552 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in Associated Banc by 21.0% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,826,597 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,461,000 after purchasing an additional 490,321 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Associated Banc by 0.8% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,744,918 shares of the bank’s stock worth $46,966,000 after purchasing an additional 21,981 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Associated Banc by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,254,457 shares of the bank’s stock worth $48,223,000 after purchasing an additional 40,111 shares during the period. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.