National Pension Service Sells 59,307 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

National Pension Service lessened its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 15.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 335,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 59,307 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.16% of AON worth $120,408,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AON in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AON by 2,025.0% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 85 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AON by 1,162.5% in the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services bought a new stake in shares of AON in the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AON in the 4th quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Stock Up 0.3 %

AON stock opened at $398.74 on Thursday. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $400.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $370.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $363.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $86.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.93.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a return on equity of 70.84% and a net margin of 16.91%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. AON’s payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AON. Barclays boosted their target price on AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $386.21.

AON Profile

Aon Plc engages in the provision of risk, health, and wealth solutions. It focuses on risk capital including claim management, reinsurance, risk analysis, management, retention, and transfer; and human capital involving analytics, health and benefits, investments, pensions and retirement, talent and rewards, and workplace wellbeing.