Associated Banc-Corp (ASB) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.23 on March 17th

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.23 per share by the bank on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd.

Associated Banc has increased its dividend by an average of 5.4% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Associated Banc has a dividend payout ratio of 33.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Associated Banc to earn $2.66 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 34.6%.

Associated Banc Trading Up 0.5 %

Associated Banc stock opened at $24.83 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.43, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.94. Associated Banc has a fifty-two week low of $19.76 and a fifty-two week high of $28.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $24.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.88.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.04. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 5.15%. Equities research analysts forecast that Associated Banc will post 2.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Associated Banc

In other Associated Banc news, Director John B. Williams sold 2,830 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.09, for a total value of $71,004.70. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 66,915 shares in the company, valued at $1,678,897.35. This trade represents a 4.06 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Associated Banc from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on Associated Banc from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Stephens reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of Associated Banc in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Associated Banc from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Associated Banc from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and nine have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Associated Banc presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $27.00.

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.