JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Position in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB - Free Report) by 75.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,088,796 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 467,183 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.72% of Associated Banc worth $26,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the bank's stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its position in Associated Banc by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 80,294 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,919,000 after buying an additional 494 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Associated Banc by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the bank's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Associated Banc by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,165 shares of the bank's stock valued at $291,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 16,182 shares of the bank's stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ASB. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Associated Banc from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Wednesday. 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. Stephens reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. StockNews.com lowered Associated Banc from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.67.

Insider Activity at Associated Banc

In other Associated Banc news, Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 owns 66,915 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,678,897.35. The trade was a 4.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Eileen A. Kamerick sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.71, for a total value of $172,970.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 49,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,223,021.45. This represents a 12.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Associated Banc Trading Down 0.4 %

ASB stock traded down $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $19.21. The company had a trading volume of 1,494,740 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,493,554. The business has a 50 day moving average of $22.87 and a 200 day moving average of $23.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $3.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.32, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.78. Associated Banc-Corp has a 52 week low of $18.32 and a 52 week high of $28.18.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.79%. Associated Banc's payout ratio is 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.