Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Shares Sold by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lessened its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Free Report) by 19.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 122,598 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 28,817 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.06% of AON worth $48,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AON during the 4th quarter worth about $596,665,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in AON by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,067,551 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $742,582,000 after buying an additional 960,204 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AON by 56,460.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 761,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $304,052,000 after acquiring an additional 760,516 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 627,742 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of AON by 5,877.4% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 536,174 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $192,572,000 after acquiring an additional 527,204 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AON has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler raised AON from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $384.00 to $378.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of AON from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $408.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective 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. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AON from $430.00 to $415.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $445.00 price target on AON in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $397.27.

AON Trading Down 2.2%

NYSE:AON traded down $7.70 on Wednesday, reaching $349.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 427,480 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,156,336. The firm has a market cap of $75.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 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 12-month low of $291.72 and a 12-month high of $412.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $357.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $370.85.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $6.04 by ($0.37). AON had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 52.71%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $5.66 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.745 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. This is a positive change from AON's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. AON's dividend payout ratio is 25.38%.

AON Profile

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.