Stephens Inc. AR Cuts Stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 1.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 34,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 390 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in AON were worth $12,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AON by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of AON by 8.4% in the third quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AON by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $460,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC increased its holdings in AON by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its position in AON by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AON has been the topic of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Cowen raised their target price on AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. 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. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AON has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $386.21.

AON Stock Performance

AON stock opened at $386.68 on Monday. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $395.33. The stock has a market cap of $83.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.54, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $365.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $357.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued 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 previous year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. AON’s payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AON

In related news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total value of $494,292.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,291.36. The trade was a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,121.44. This represents a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

About AON

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.