Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Shares Sold by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 128,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,647 shares during the period. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC’s holdings in AON were worth $46,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AON by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,010,714,000 after acquiring an additional 88,361 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AON by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,949,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,773,165,000 after purchasing an additional 627,742 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AON by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,564,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,182,000 after purchasing an additional 343,592 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AON by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,329,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $824,498,000 after purchasing an additional 64,720 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its stake in AON by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,123,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $762,796,000 after buying an additional 86,148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:AON opened at $379.04 on Wednesday. Aon plc has a 1 year low of $268.06 and a 1 year high of $412.97. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $390.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $375.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.94, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82.

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

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a $0.745 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.79%. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. AON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AON has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on AON from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AON to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $393.87.

AON Company 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.