Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Sells 31,443 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY reduced its stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB - Free Report) by 51.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,810 shares of the bank's stock after selling 31,443 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY's holdings in Associated Banc were worth $712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,230,340 shares of the bank's stock worth $177,282,000 after buying an additional 261,877 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,584,271 shares of the bank's stock worth $77,219,000 after buying an additional 79,658 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank's stock worth $65,401,000 after buying an additional 305,133 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,137,125 shares of the bank's stock worth $46,034,000 after buying an additional 17,425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 592,472 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,762,000 after buying an additional 34,824 shares during the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on ASB. Barclays upped their price target 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. Stephens reiterated an "equal weight" rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Associated Banc from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $27.00.

Associated Banc Trading Up 1.3 %

Associated Banc stock traded up $0.33 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $25.05. The company had a trading volume of 914,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,546,752. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.88. Associated Banc-Corp has a 1 year low of $19.72 and a 1 year high of $28.18. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.62.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 8.24%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Associated Banc Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Associated Banc's payout ratio is presently 116.46%.

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.