Aon plc $AON Shares Acquired by BNP Paribas Financial Markets

BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 78.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 422,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 185,296 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned about 0.20% of AON worth $148,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of AON by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,171,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,117,960,000 after acquiring an additional 191,658 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AON by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,229,464 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,291,048,000 after buying an additional 105,154 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in AON by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,141,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,810,726,000 after buying an additional 28,066 shares in the last quarter. Dodge & Cox bought a new stake in AON during the third quarter worth approximately $1,235,437,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,155,981,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $408.00 target price on shares of AON in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of AON from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of AON in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of AON from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of AON from $406.00 to $396.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $396.81.

AON Trading Down 0.8%

AON stock opened at $315.63 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $321.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $334.14. Aon plc has a 52 week low of $304.59 and a 52 week high of $381.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 0.72.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.37 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.97 billion. AON had a net margin of 22.54% and a return on equity of 43.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $5.67 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 19.1 EPS for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.75. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 16.36%.

AON Company Profile

Aon plc is a global professional services firm that provides a broad suite of risk, retirement and health solutions to corporations, institutions and individuals. The company operates primarily as an insurance broker and risk adviser, helping clients identify, quantify and transfer risk across property, casualty, cyber and other areas. Aon also offers reinsurance brokerage and capital market solutions that connect insurers, reinsurers and corporate buyers.

In addition to traditional brokerage activities, Aon delivers consulting and outsourcing services in areas such as human capital, benefits, and retirement plan design and administration.