Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Position in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB - Free Report) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,248,435 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 111,310 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 1.49% of Associated Banc worth $53,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of ASB. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 315.6% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 540,057 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,907,000 after buying an additional 410,118 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC grew its position in Associated Banc by 11.2% in the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 3,036,239 shares of the bank's stock worth $65,401,000 after acquiring an additional 305,133 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Associated Banc in the third quarter valued at $6,082,000. State Street Corp raised its position in Associated Banc by 3.3% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,230,340 shares of the bank's stock valued at $177,282,000 after purchasing an additional 261,877 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NFJ Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Associated Banc during the third quarter worth about $3,245,000. 82.98% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on ASB shares. StockNews.com cut Associated Banc from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of Associated Banc in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James cut their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $27.11.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Associated Banc

In other news, Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total transaction of $71,004.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 66,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,678,897.35. The trade was a 4.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Eileen A. Kamerick sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.71, for a total transaction of $172,970.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 49,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,223,021.45. This trade represents a 12.39 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Associated Banc Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE ASB traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $22.23. 1,852,466 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,379,306. 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 12-month low of $19.76 and a 12-month high of $28.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $24.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.98. The firm has a market cap of $3.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.90.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Associated Banc Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.14%. 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.