US Bancorp DE Cuts Stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

US Bancorp DE lowered its position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 35,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 406 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in AON were worth $12,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in AON by 34.7% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in AON by 134.6% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 1,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in AON by 16.1% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 28,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3,948 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in AON by 46.0% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 1,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in AON by 5.2% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 4,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on AON from $322.00 to $318.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on AON from $352.00 to $342.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on AON in a report on Wednesday, October 4th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $361.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on AON from $331.00 to $339.00 in a report on Friday, October 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on AON from $340.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $344.08.

Insider Activity at AON

In other AON news, Director Byron Spruell acquired 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $324.57 per share, for a total transaction of $259,656.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,298,604.57. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

AON Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of AON stock opened at $329.74 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $326.93 and a 200 day moving average of $327.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 61.66. The stock has a market cap of $66.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.93. Aon plc has a twelve month low of $280.89 and a twelve month high of $347.37.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. AON had a negative return on equity of 1,685.76% and a net margin of 20.74%. AON’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 14.35 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 31st. AON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.71%.

About AON

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides advice and solutions to clients focused on risk, retirement, and health worldwide. It offers commercial risk solutions, including retail brokerage, specialty solutions, global risk consulting and captives management, and affinity programs; and health solutions, such as health and benefits brokerages, and health care exchanges.