American Century Companies Inc. Sells 3,215 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,215 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $10,793,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of AON by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,059,977,000 after purchasing an additional 32,417 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AON by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,322,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,489,690,000 after buying an additional 38,447 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in AON by 15.5% in the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 343,592 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of AON by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,035,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $731,799,000 after acquiring an additional 244,706 shares during the period. Finally, Cantillon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AON by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,323,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $475,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,010 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of AON to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $386.21.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AON opened at $396.11 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $390.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $373.27. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $412.97. The company has a market capitalization of $85.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a return on equity of 70.84% and a net margin of 16.91%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.33%.

About AON

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.