Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.04 EPS

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

Associated Banc Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:ASB traded down $0.21 during 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. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $25.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.09, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.94. Associated Banc has a fifty-two week low of $19.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.18.

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 given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is currently 76.67%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ASB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $26.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total value of $810,172.48. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,021 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,222,406.03. The trade was a 26.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 100,204 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,423,934.76. This represents 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.

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.