Bleakley Financial Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 10,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in AON were worth $3,627,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AON. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new position in AON in the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,856,000. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of AON by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 44,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,311,000 after buying an additional 2,821 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of AON by 78.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $304,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in AON during the third quarter worth approximately $438,000. Finally, CWM LLC increased its holdings in AON by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 13,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,836,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at AON

In other AON 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 transaction of $494,292.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. This represents a 13.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $716,121.44. This represents a 26.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AON opened at $384.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $365.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $355.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market cap of $83.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.38, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.93. Aon plc has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $395.33.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.89 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore ISI upgraded AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. TD Cowen upped their price target on shares of AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report 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.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $386.21.

AON 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.