Longview Partners Guernsey LTD Has $527.29 Million Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Longview Partners Guernsey LTD trimmed its position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,468,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 60,583 shares during the period. AON accounts for approximately 3.9% of Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD’s holdings in AON were worth $527,294,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in AON in the fourth quarter worth approximately $596,665,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of AON by 86.7% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,067,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $742,582,000 after purchasing an additional 960,204 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AON by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,949,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,773,165,000 after purchasing an additional 627,742 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its position in AON by 43,000.8% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 390,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $140,404,000 after buying an additional 390,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $921,182,000 after buying an additional 343,592 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AON. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 price objective on AON in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of AON from $396.00 to $416.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on AON from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $393.87.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AON opened at $373.23 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $390.23 and its 200-day moving average is $375.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (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 last year, the firm posted $3.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.745 per share. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.80%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

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.