KBC Group NV Sells 48,358 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

KBC Group NV lowered its position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 60.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 31,473 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,358 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in AON were worth $11,304,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in AON in the 3rd quarter valued at $336,375,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in AON by 150.4% during the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 96,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,326,000 after buying an additional 57,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of AON by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,059,977,000 after buying an additional 32,417 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in AON by 13.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,345,000 after acquiring an additional 20,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retireful LLC acquired a new position in AON during the third quarter valued at approximately $759,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total value of $494,292.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,291.36. This trade represents a 13.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total value of $256,321.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,121.44. This trade represents a 26.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

AON Price Performance

AON stock opened at $366.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 2.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.97, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.93. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $367.15 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $352.99. Aon plc has a 52-week low of $268.06 and a 52-week high of $395.33.

AON Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.78%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AON shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a report on Thursday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on AON from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, AON has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $370.87.

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.