Swiss National Bank Lowers Stock Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Swiss National Bank lessened its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 0.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 549,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,300 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in AON were worth $219,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AON in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of AON by 54.7% in the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC purchased a new position in shares of AON in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AON in the first quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AON in the first quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of AON from $414.00 to $409.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (up previously from $401.00) on shares of AON in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $438.00 price target (up previously from $436.00) on shares of AON in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of AON from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $408.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AON from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $400.00 to $426.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $409.21.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of AON stock opened at $366.39 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $357.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $370.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.69, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.83. Aon plc has a 12 month low of $323.73 and a 12 month high of $412.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.16 billion. AON had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 50.91%. AON’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.93 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a dividend of $0.745 per share. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. AON’s payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

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.