Insider Spends US$300k Buying More Shares In Associated Banc-Corp

Potential Associated Banc-Corp (NYSE:ASB) shareholders may wish to note that the President, Andrew Harmening, recently bought US$300k worth of stock, paying US$23.25 for each share. While that's a very decent purchase to our minds, it was proportionally a bit modest, boosting their holding by just 5.5%.

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The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Associated Banc-Corp

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider sale was by the insider, Paul Schmidt, for US$549k worth of shares, at about US$23.19 per share. That means that an insider was selling shares at slightly below the current price (US$24.38). As a general rule we consider it to be discouraging when insiders are selling below the current price, because it suggests they were happy with a lower valuation. However, while insider selling is sometimes discouraging, it's only a weak signal. We note that the biggest single sale was only 32% of Paul Schmidt's holding.

Over the last year we saw more insider selling of Associated Banc-Corp shares, than buying. You can see the insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

View our latest analysis for Associated Banc-Corp

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Does Associated Banc-Corp Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. Usually, the higher the insider ownership, the more likely it is that insiders will be incentivised to build the company for the long term. Insiders own 0.8% of Associated Banc-Corp shares, worth about US$31m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About Associated Banc-Corp Insiders?

It is good to see the recent insider purchase. On the other hand the transaction history, over the last year, isn't so positive. While recent transactions indicate confidence in Associated Banc-Corp, insiders don't own enough of the company to overcome our cautiousness about the longer term transactions. So they seem pretty well aligned, overall. So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. You'd be interested to know, that we found 1 warning sign for Associated Banc-Corp and we suggest you have a look.

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For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.