Nicolet Bankshares Inc. Sells 3,750 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Nicolet Bankshares Inc. cut its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 78.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,750 shares during the period. Nicolet Bankshares Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of AON. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AON by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,010,714,000 after buying an additional 88,361 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in AON by 14.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,949,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,773,165,000 after acquiring an additional 627,742 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in AON by 15.5% during the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 343,592 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of AON by 2.9% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in shares of AON by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,123,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $762,796,000 after purchasing an additional 86,148 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on AON. Evercore ISI raised AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of AON from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AON presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $393.87.

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON stock opened at $375.26 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $390.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $374.56. Aon plc has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $412.97. The firm has a market cap of $81.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.745 per share. This is a positive change from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.33%.

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.