Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Buys 1,500 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 8.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in AON were worth $5,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AON in the 4th quarter valued at about $423,030,000. Meritage Group LP bought a new position in AON in the first quarter valued at approximately $258,471,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AON during the 1st quarter worth $210,911,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of AON by 37.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,000,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $587,445,000 after acquiring an additional 548,563 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AON by 32.0% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,943,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $648,663,000 after purchasing an additional 471,424 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on AON shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on AON from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of AON from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $313.00 to $380.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of AON in a report on Monday, August 5th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of AON in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $309.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $333.21.

AON Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:AON opened at $348.26 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $308.56. Aon plc has a 52-week low of $268.06 and a 52-week high of $349.87. The company has a market cap of $75.66 billion, a PE ratio of 27.29, a PEG ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.42.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by ($0.15). AON had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 252.81%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.76 earnings per share. AON’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. AON’s dividend payout ratio is 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.