Bessemer Group Inc. Has $7.23 Million Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Bessemer Group Inc. lessened its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 96.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,651 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 553,131 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $7,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AON. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of AON by 49.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 3,341 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AON during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in AON by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 1,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in AON by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,411,000 after buying an additional 2,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC bought a new stake in shares of AON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AON news, Director Lester B. Knight acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $276.61 per share, for a total transaction of $2,766,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,448,790. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

AON Stock Performance

AON stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $298.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 737,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,275,286. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $291.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $302.46. Aon plc has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $344.68. The company has a market capitalization of $64.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.91.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). AON had a negative return on equity of 1,083.00% and a net margin of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.41 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. AON’s payout ratio is 21.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AON has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AON from $353.00 to $379.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of AON from $289.00 to $287.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $311.00 price target on shares of AON in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America lowered AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $345.00 to $306.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $321.36.

AON Profile

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides a range of risk and human capital solutions 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.