Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.04 EPS

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04, Zacks reports. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 8.15%.

Associated Banc Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of ASB traded down $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $25.31. The stock had a trading volume of 2,054,279 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,650,696. Associated Banc has a 1-year low of $19.40 and a 1-year high of $28.18. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.36. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. This is a positive change from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.67%.

Insider Activity

In other Associated Banc news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total transaction of $810,172.48. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. This trade represents a 26.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total transaction of $460,674.36. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. The trade was a 15.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ASB. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

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.