Wells Fargo & Company MN Purchases 20,805 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB - Free Report) by 21.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 115,710 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 20,805 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.08% of Associated Banc worth $2,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 49.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the bank's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Associated Banc during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Associated Banc during the fourth quarter worth approximately $64,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Associated Banc in the fourth quarter worth approximately $67,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Associated Banc by 270.5% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 4,320 shares of the bank's stock valued at $103,000 after buying an additional 3,154 shares in the last quarter. 82.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Associated Banc Stock Up 1.6 %

ASB traded up $0.36 on Friday, reaching $22.38. 3,793,028 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,531,707. Associated Banc-Corp has a 52-week low of $18.32 and a 52-week high of $28.18. 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 $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $21.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.87.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. Associated Banc had a net margin of 5.15% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The business had revenue of $348.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $347.86 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Associated Banc's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 116.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Associated Banc from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. StockNews.com downgraded Associated Banc from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Associated Banc from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $26.11.

Insider Activity

In other Associated Banc news, Director Eileen A. Kamerick sold 7,000 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 $1,223,021.45. The trade was a 12.39 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 66,915 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,678,897.35. This represents a 4.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.