Harbour Investments Inc. Purchases 4,830 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 43,504 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 4,830 shares during the quarter. Harbour Investments Inc.’s holdings in Associated Banc were worth $1,040,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the third quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Associated Banc in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Associated Banc in the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.11.

Associated Banc Stock Performance

Shares of Associated Banc stock opened at $22.43 on Wednesday. Associated Banc-Corp has a 52 week low of $19.76 and a 52 week high of $28.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $24.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $23.97.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 8.24%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.46%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total value of $71,004.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 66,915 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,678,897.35. The trade was a 4.06 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen A. Kamerick sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.71, for a total transaction of $172,970.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 49,495 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,223,021.45. The trade was a 12.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Associated Banc 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.