Sanctuary Advisors LLC Reduces Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Free Report) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 976 shares during the quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC's holdings in AON were worth $6,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of AON during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of AON by 2,025.0% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 85 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AON by 1,162.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. First Personal Financial Services acquired a new stake in AON in the third quarter worth $37,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AON during the 3rd quarter worth about $42,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total value of $256,321.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares of the company's stock, valued at $716,121.44. This represents a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. The trade was a 13.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company's stock.

AON Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE AON traded down $2.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $391.00. 457,601 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 999,948. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $367.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $361.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 2.05. Aon plc has a 12-month low of $268.06 and a 12-month high of $395.65. The firm has a market cap of $84.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.93.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. AON's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AON from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AON currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $386.21.

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.