Banque Pictet & Cie SA Sells 1,611 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA lessened its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Free Report) by 3.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 42,023 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 1,611 shares during the quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA's holdings in AON were worth $16,771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AON by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,010,714,000 after buying an additional 88,361 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AON by 14.5% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,949,919 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,773,165,000 after buying an additional 627,742 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of AON by 18.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,034,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,210,864,000 after buying an additional 469,238 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings 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 valued at $824,498,000 after buying an additional 64,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of AON by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,158,943 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $775,406,000 after buying an additional 183,442 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AON traded up $2.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $359.34. 420,515 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,163,136. The company's 50 day moving average is $358.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $370.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.60 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. Aon plc has a 52 week low of $292.45 and a 52 week high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.04 by ($0.37). AON had a return on equity of 52.71% and a net margin of 15.58%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $5.66 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. This is an increase from AON's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. AON's dividend payout ratio is 25.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on AON. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of AON from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $408.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted 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. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 target price on AON in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on AON from $415.00 to $401.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AON currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $395.87.

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.