Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,662 Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB)

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,662 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Associated Banc by 10.7% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 11,312 shares of the bank’s stock worth $234,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $419,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Associated Banc by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 27,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $573,000 after acquiring an additional 636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in Associated Banc by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 50,680 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after buying an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.

Associated Banc Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of ASB opened at $25.17 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.30. Associated Banc-Corp has a twelve month low of $19.40 and a twelve month high of $28.18.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $607.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $336.52 million. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 8.15%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Associated Banc-Corp will post 2.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Associated Banc Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.23 dividend. This is an increase from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Associated Banc’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.67%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on ASB. StockNews.com raised Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays upped their target price on Associated Banc from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Associated Banc from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $26.00.

Insider Activity at Associated Banc

In other news, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.19, for a total transaction of $460,674.36. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 100,204 shares in the company, valued at $2,423,934.76. This trade represents a 15.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP David L. Stein sold 29,536 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.43, for a total value of $810,172.48. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 81,021 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,222,406.03. This represents a 26.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.