Vontobel Holding Ltd. Buys 57,847 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 150.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 96,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,847 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in AON were worth $33,326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AON. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AON by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,661,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,894,053,000 after purchasing an additional 64,500 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in AON by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 12,552,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,685,183,000 after buying an additional 309,702 shares during the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in AON by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 4,405,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,293,449,000 after buying an additional 52,099 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of AON by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,805,199 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $936,151,000 after buying an additional 127,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Franchise Partners LLP increased its position in shares of AON by 2.1% in the second quarter. Independent Franchise Partners LLP now owns 2,409,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $707,390,000 after acquiring an additional 49,161 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AON has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on AON from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of AON from $344.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of AON from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $313.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of AON from $338.00 to $384.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $347.06.

AON Price Performance

AON stock opened at $358.48 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $77.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92. Aon plc has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $363.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $344.73 and its 200-day moving average is $314.81.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.08 by ($0.15). AON had a return on equity of 252.81% and a net margin of 18.00%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.22 EPS for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 1st will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 1st. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.58%.

AON 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.