Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Holdings Lowered by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System lessened its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 314,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,815 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.15% of AON worth $112,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AON. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AON by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,010,714,000 after purchasing an additional 88,361 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $1,773,165,000 after acquiring an additional 627,742 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake 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. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake 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 worth $824,498,000 after purchasing an additional 64,720 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in AON by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,158,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $775,406,000 after buying an additional 183,442 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays lowered their price objective on AON from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of AON from $396.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $392.00.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of AON stock opened at $343.63 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $385.51 and a 200-day moving average of $375.83. Aon plc has a one year low of $275.07 and a one year high of $412.97. The stock has a market cap of $74.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.04 by ($0.37). AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.66 EPS. AON’s quarterly revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The business 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 an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.87%. AON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.38%.

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.