Trust Point Inc. Acquires 5,111 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Trust Point Inc. grew its holdings in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 46,083 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,111 shares during the quarter. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in Associated Banc were worth $1,101,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ASB. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Associated Banc by 315.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 540,057 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,907,000 after purchasing an additional 410,118 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in Associated Banc by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,401,000 after purchasing an additional 305,133 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Associated Banc during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,082,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,230,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,282,000 after purchasing an additional 261,877 shares during the period. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Associated Banc during the third quarter worth approximately $3,245,000. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total value of $810,172.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 81,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,406.03. This represents a 26.72 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ASB. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Associated Banc from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have given a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

Associated Banc Price Performance

Shares of ASB opened at $24.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $24.99 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.54. Associated Banc-Corp has a fifty-two week low of $19.40 and a fifty-two week high of $28.18. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.94.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 5.15%. Analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.46%.

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.