Aon plc $AON Stock Position Raised by Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lifted its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 52.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 93,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,940 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in AON were worth $30,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dodge & Cox boosted its stake in AON by 126.6% in the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 7,852,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,770,975,000 after purchasing an additional 4,387,773 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AON in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,155,981,000. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in AON during the 3rd quarter worth $504,424,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of AON by 40,219.8% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 846,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,922,000 after purchasing an additional 844,615 shares during the period. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of AON during the 4th quarter worth about $229,372,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of AON in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of AON from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on AON from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on shares of AON from $416.00 to $401.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on AON from $385.00 to $360.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AON presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $394.94.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE AON opened at $356.89 on Friday. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $304.59 and a fifty-two week high of $381.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $323.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $330.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market cap of $76.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.71.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.37 by $0.11. AON had a net margin of 22.54% and a return on equity of 43.50%. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.67 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Aon plc will post 19.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.82 per share. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. AON’s payout ratio is currently 18.00%.

About AON

Aon plc is a global professional services firm that provides a broad suite of risk, retirement and health solutions to corporations, institutions and individuals. The company operates primarily as an insurance broker and risk adviser, helping clients identify, quantify and transfer risk across property, casualty, cyber and other areas. Aon also offers reinsurance brokerage and capital market solutions that connect insurers, reinsurers and corporate buyers.

In addition to traditional brokerage activities, Aon delivers consulting and outsourcing services in areas such as human capital, benefits, and retirement plan design and administration.