NFJ Investment Group LLC Purchases Shares of 150,657 Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 150,657 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $3,245,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ASB. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new position in Associated Banc during the 1st quarter worth about $866,000. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 30.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,084 shares of the bank’s stock worth $150,000 after buying an additional 1,661 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc raised its position in Associated Banc by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. M&G Plc now owns 411,761 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,647,000 after buying an additional 45,542 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Associated Banc by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 55,365 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,171,000 after acquiring an additional 6,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Associated Banc by 31.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,530 shares of the bank’s stock worth $603,000 after acquiring an additional 6,768 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Associated Banc Stock Down 1.4 %

ASB stock opened at $25.95 on Wednesday. Associated Banc-Corp has a 1-year low of $18.56 and a 1-year high of $28.18. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $22.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 21.63, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.93.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $607.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.52 million. Associated Banc had a net margin of 8.15% and a return on equity of 8.18%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.13 EPS for the current year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is a boost from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is currently 76.67%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Associated Banc

In other Associated Banc news, Director Lith Karen Van sold 8,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total value of $165,089.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 54,114 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,108,254.72. The trade was a 12.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total value of $810,172.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 81,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. This trade represents a 26.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 56,641 shares of company stock valued at $1,435,936 in the last ninety days. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ASB shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Associated Banc from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.33.

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.