Andrew J. Harmening Purchases 12,910 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Stock

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) CEO Andrew J. Harmening bought 12,910 shares of the 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 purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 319,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Associated Banc Stock Performance

ASB stock traded up $1.21 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $24.41. 896,449 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,532,660. Associated Banc-Corp has a 52-week low of $18.32 and a 52-week high of $28.18. The stock has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.86, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.59 and its 200 day moving average is $23.90.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $348.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $347.86 million. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current year.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 2nd will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 2nd. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 106.98%.

Institutional Trading of Associated Banc

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 51.3% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 371,448 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,002,000 after acquiring an additional 125,899 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 0.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 144,521 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,064 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 11,595.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 76,370 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,825,000 after acquiring an additional 75,717 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 315.6% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 540,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,907,000 after acquiring an additional 410,118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 155,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,704,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Associated Banc from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

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.