StockNews.com Lowers Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) to Sell

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on ASB. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $25.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Associated Banc from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.78.

Associated Banc Stock Performance

ASB stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $22.47. 2,197,921 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,327,144. Associated Banc has a 52-week low of $15.20 and a 52-week high of $24.21. The stock has a market cap of $3.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $21.73 and its 200 day moving average is $21.45.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52. Associated Banc had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 8.14%. The firm had revenue of $321.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $330.69 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. Associated Banc’s revenue for the quarter was down .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Associated Banc will post 2.06 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Associated Banc

In other news, EVP Randall J. Erickson sold 23,774 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total value of $546,564.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 128,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,958,353.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Associated Banc news, Director Lith Karen Van sold 8,061 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total transaction of $165,089.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 54,114 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,108,254.72. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Randall J. Erickson sold 23,774 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total value of $546,564.26. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 128,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,958,353.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,835 shares of company stock valued at $757,214 over the last 90 days. 1.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 15,639,171 shares of the bank’s stock worth $334,522,000 after purchasing an additional 184,813 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management boosted its holdings in Associated Banc by 43.3% in the 1st quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 4,050,813 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,133,000 after acquiring an additional 1,224,216 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in Associated Banc by 291.3% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,563,274 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,063,000 after acquiring an additional 1,163,807 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Associated Banc by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,149,355 shares of the bank’s stock worth $24,309,000 after acquiring an additional 123,271 shares during the period. Finally, Interval Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 27.6% during the 2nd quarter. Interval Partners LP now owns 442,947 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,368,000 after buying an additional 95,928 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.98% 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.