Farther Finance Advisors LLC Acquires 1,122 Shares of Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) by 38.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,072 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Associated Banc were worth $90,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quarry LP boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 154.3% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,073 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 221.0% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,499 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,032 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 385.5% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,612 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,280 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 49.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,747 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Associated Banc by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,518 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their price target on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $25.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Associated Banc from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $27.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on Associated Banc from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stephens dropped their price target on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $26.00.

Associated Banc Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE ASB opened at $23.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.85, a PEG ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.79. Associated Banc-Corp has a 12 month low of $18.32 and a 12 month high of $28.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $22.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.39.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $348.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $347.86 million. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.47% and a net margin of 6.02%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. Associated Banc’s payout ratio is 106.98%.

Insider Transactions at Associated Banc

In other news, CEO Andrew J. Harmening purchased 12,910 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $23.25 per share, for a total transaction of $300,157.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 319,269 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,423,004.25. This trade represents a 4.21% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.45% 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.