Contrasting MidWestOne Financial Group (NASDAQ:MOFG) & Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB)

MidWestOne Financial Group (NASDAQ:MOFG) and Associated Banc (NYSE:ASB) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares MidWestOne Financial Group and Associated Banc’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
MidWestOne Financial Group	16.66%	10.22%	0.96%
Associated Banc	19.88%	10.46%	1.10%

Dividends

MidWestOne Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $0.97 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Associated Banc pays an annual dividend of $0.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. MidWestOne Financial Group pays out 34.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Associated Banc pays out 33.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Associated Banc has raised its dividend for 13 consecutive years. Associated Banc is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

65.4% of MidWestOne Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.0% of Associated Banc shares are held by institutional investors. 2.5% of MidWestOne Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of Associated Banc shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

MidWestOne Financial Group has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated Banc has a beta of 0.79, meaning that its share price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for MidWestOne Financial Group and Associated Banc, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
MidWestOne Financial Group	0	4	1	0	2.20
Associated Banc	0	6	6	0	2.50

MidWestOne Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $40.50, suggesting a potential downside of 17.87%. Associated Banc has a consensus price target of $30.30, suggesting a potential upside of 7.07%. Given Associated Banc’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Associated Banc is more favorable than MidWestOne Financial Group.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares MidWestOne Financial Group and Associated Banc”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
MidWestOne Financial Group	$238.84 million	4.26	-$60.29 million	$2.81	17.55
Associated Banc	$2.46 billion	1.91	$474.78 million	$2.88	9.83

Associated Banc has higher revenue and earnings than MidWestOne Financial Group. Associated Banc is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than MidWestOne Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Associated Banc beats MidWestOne Financial Group on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About MidWestOne Financial Group

MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for MidWestOne Bank that provides commercial and retail banking products and services to individuals, businesses, governmental units, and institutional customers. It offers range of deposit products, including noninterest bearing and interest bearing demand deposits, savings, money market, and time deposits accounts. The company also provides commercial, real estate, agricultural, credit card, and consumer loans; and financing arrangements, such as brokered deposits, term debt, subordinated debt, and equity. In addition, it offers trust and investment services comprising administering estates, trusts, and conservatorships; property and farm management, investment advisory, retail securities brokerage, financial planning, and custodial services; and licensed brokers services. Further, the company provides online and mobile banking, debit cards, automated teller machines, and safe deposit boxes. MidWestOne Financial Group, Inc. was founded in 1934 and is headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa.

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. It also provides deposit and cash management solutions, such as commercial checking and interest-bearing deposit products, cash vault and night depository services, liquidity solutions, payables and receivables solutions, and information services; specialized financial services, such as interest rate risk management and foreign exchange solutions; fiduciary services, such as administration of pension, profit-sharing and other employee benefit plans, fiduciary and corporate agency services, and institutional asset management services; and investable funds solutions, including savings, money market deposit accounts, IRA accounts, CDs, fixed and variable annuities, full-service, discount, and online investment brokerage; investment advisory services; and trust and investment management accounts. In addition, the company offers deposit and transactional solutions, including checking, credit, debit and pre-paid cards, online banking and bill pay; and money transfer services. Associated Banc-Corp was founded in 1861 and is headquartered in Green Bay, Wisconsin.