Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The bank reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.90% and a net margin of 8.12%. The company had revenue of $322.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $325.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Associated Banc Price Performance

Shares of Associated Banc stock traded up $0.44 on Friday, hitting $21.81. The company had a trading volume of 1,077,356 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,427,428. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $3.28 billion, a PE ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.00. Associated Banc has a 52 week low of $14.47 and a 52 week high of $22.16.

Associated Banc Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.88%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Associated Banc from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $21.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Associated Banc from $22.00 to $24.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Stephens reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $23.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $23.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Associated Banc has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John B. Williams sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $52,785.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 62,876 shares in the company, valued at $1,229,225.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Associated Banc news, EVP John A. Utz sold 14,010 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.20, for a total value of $297,012.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 89,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,905,456. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John B. Williams sold 2,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.55, for a total transaction of $52,785.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 62,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,229,225.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 21,710 shares of company stock worth $454,897. Corporate insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Associated Banc Company 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.