Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 496,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,841 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned 0.25% of AON worth $165,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its stake in AON by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 665 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in AON by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in AON by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AON by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of AON by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 2,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at AON

In other news, Director Lester B. Knight bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $276.61 per share, for a total transaction of $2,766,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,448,790. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AON has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of AON in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of AON from $318.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $345.00 to $306.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of AON from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $321.71.

AON Price Performance

AON traded down $0.80 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $294.77. The stock had a trading volume of 234,668 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,299,167. Aon plc has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $344.68. The firm has a market cap of $64.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $289.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $302.19.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). AON had a negative return on equity of 1,083.00% and a net margin of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $5.17 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aon plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 30th. AON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.16%.

AON Company Profile

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides a range of risk and human capital solutions worldwide. It offers commercial risk solutions, including retail brokerage, specialty solutions, global risk consulting and captives management, and affinity programs; and health solutions, such as health and benefits brokerages, and health care exchanges.