CW Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Associated Banc-Corp $ASB

CW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 216.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 34,542 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,630 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Associated Banc were worth $842,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in ASB. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Associated Banc by 1.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,151,111 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,256,000 after purchasing an additional 67,219 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 139.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,748,667 shares of the bank’s stock worth $61,927,000 after buying an additional 1,598,951 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,321,120 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $52,295,000 after acquiring an additional 72,685 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in Associated Banc by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,983,873 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $48,387,000 after acquiring an additional 141,946 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Associated Banc during the 2nd quarter valued at about $48,373,000. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Associated Banc

In related news, EVP Patrick Edward Ahern sold 30,489 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.70, for a total value of $783,567.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 24,055 shares in the company, valued at $618,213.50. This trade represents a 55.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 37,158 shares of company stock valued at $956,931. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on ASB. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target (up from $29.00) on shares of Associated Banc in a report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Associated Banc in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Associated Banc presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.20.

Associated Banc Stock Performance

Shares of ASB opened at $26.13 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.33 billion, a PE ratio of 27.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.81. Associated Banc-Corp has a one year low of $18.32 and a one year high of $27.46.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The bank reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by $0.07. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 7.23%.The firm had revenue of $390.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.94 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is a boost from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 1st. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 102.13%.

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.