Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Buys 5,087 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 10.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,887 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,087 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in AON were worth $17,316,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in AON by 124.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 5,173 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,864 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in shares of AON by 255.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 19,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,490,000 after acquiring an additional 13,977 shares in the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in AON in the first quarter worth about $210,911,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in shares of AON by 15.0% during the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in AON during the 1st quarter valued at $34,788,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on AON. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AON from $353.00 to $379.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of AON from $315.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of AON in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $309.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. 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 report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $330.21.

Insider Transactions at AON

In other AON news, insider Andy Weitz 8,454 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of AON stock traded up $2.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $330.21. The stock had a trading volume of 1,649,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,289,751. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 4.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $344.68. The firm has a market cap of $71.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s fifty day moving average is $296.73 and its 200-day moving average is $303.58.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.08 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. AON had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 252.81%. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.76 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 15.31 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. 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 0.82%. AON’s payout ratio is currently 21.16%.

About AON

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.