Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Stock Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 4.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in AON were worth $4,166,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in AON during the third quarter worth about $336,375,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in AON by 150.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 96,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,326,000 after buying an additional 57,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in AON by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,059,977,000 after buying an additional 32,417 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in AON by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,345,000 after buying an additional 20,084 shares during the period. Finally, Retireful LLC acquired a new position in shares of AON in the third quarter worth $759,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON opened at $386.81 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 2.05. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $395.33. The stock has a market cap of $83.66 billion, a PE ratio of 30.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $365.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $358.47.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.24 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AON. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $386.21.

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.