Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.23 Per Share

Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 29th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.23 per share by the bank on Monday, December 16th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 2nd. This is a positive change from Associated Banc’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22.

Associated Banc has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.7% 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 41.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Associated Banc to earn $2.25 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 40.9%.

Associated Banc Price Performance

Associated Banc stock opened at $26.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average is $23.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.26. Associated Banc has a 52-week low of $17.51 and a 52-week high of $28.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65.

Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The bank reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $607.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $336.52 million. Associated Banc had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 8.15%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Associated Banc will post 2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Associated Banc news, EVP John A. Utz sold 19,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,423,934.76. This represents a 15.97 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lith Karen Van sold 8,061 shares of Associated Banc stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.48, for a total value of $165,089.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 54,114 shares in the company, valued at $1,108,254.72. This trade represents a 12.97 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 56,641 shares of company stock valued at $1,435,936. Insiders own 1.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Associated Banc from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Associated Banc from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Associated Banc from $23.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Ten research 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 presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.89.

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.