Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Stock Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 35.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,584 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in AON were worth $1,889,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of AON by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,524,730 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,519,000 after buying an additional 22,346 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in AON by 8.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,331,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $678,406,000 after acquiring an additional 179,238 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in AON by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,472,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $428,280,000 after acquiring an additional 182,688 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $423,030,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,058,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,989,000 after purchasing an additional 5,727 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at AON

In other news, Director Lester B. Knight acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $276.61 per share, with a total value of $2,766,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 139,000 shares in the company, valued at $38,448,790. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AON has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on AON from $300.00 to $289.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Bank of America cut shares of AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $345.00 to $306.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on AON from $326.00 to $312.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AON from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AON presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $321.86.

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON stock opened at $293.41 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $289.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $302.36. Aon plc has a 1 year low of $268.06 and a 1 year high of $344.68. The stock has a market cap of $63.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.91.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

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

About AON

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.