Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Shares Sold by Ceredex Value Advisors LLC

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC cut its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 128,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,647 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of AON worth $46,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of AON. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in AON by 0.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 88,361 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,773,165,000 after buying an additional 627,742 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in AON by 15.5% in 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 last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in 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 worth $824,498,000 after acquiring an additional 64,720 shares during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its stake in AON by 4.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 86,148 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AON opened at $379.04 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $81.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $390.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.03. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. Analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.745 per share. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. AON’s payout ratio is 23.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AON. Evercore ISI upgraded AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price 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 boosted their price target 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. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 price objective on shares of AON in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $393.87.

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.