Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Shares Sold by Sanctuary Advisors LLC

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 976 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in AON were worth $6,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of AON. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. lifted its holdings in AON by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. now owns 886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC lifted its stake in AON by 3.2% during the third quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 992 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in AON by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in AON by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $242,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Finally, U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of AON by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,326,000 after buying an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,121.44. The trade was a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total value of $494,292.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,291.36. This trade represents a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AON Stock Performance

AON opened at $394.85 on Thursday. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $395.65. The company has a market capitalization of $85.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.93. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $367.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $360.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 2.05.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 last year, the company earned $3.89 EPS. Research analysts predict that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s payout ratio is 21.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on AON. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $386.21.

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.