Prana Capital Management LP Sells 176,945 Shares of Aon plc $AON

Prana Capital Management LP decreased its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 34.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 340,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 176,945 shares during the period. AON makes up about 4.0% of Prana Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Prana Capital Management LP’s holdings in AON were worth $121,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Silver Lake Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AON during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,292,000. Callan Family Office LLC raised its position in AON by 220.7% in the third quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 11,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,163,000 after purchasing an additional 8,034 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new position in AON during the third quarter worth about $1,752,000. Veritas Asset Management LLP boosted its holdings in AON by 19.3% during the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 2,053,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $732,299,000 after purchasing an additional 332,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of AON by 64.9% in the 3rd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 19,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,808,000 after purchasing an additional 7,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AON has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded AON from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $397.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price target on AON in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of AON in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of AON from $448.00 to $443.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Sunday, February 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $395.00 target price on shares of AON in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $408.94.

AON Stock Down 1.6%

NYSE AON opened at $321.54 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $333.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $345.66. Aon plc has a one year low of $304.59 and a one year high of $402.49. The firm has a market cap of $68.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 2.03 and a quick ratio of 2.03.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 30th. The financial services provider reported $4.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.75 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $4.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.38 billion. AON had a return on equity of 45.23% and a net margin of 21.51%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $4.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were issued a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. AON’s payout ratio is currently 17.51%.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Darren Zeidel sold 5,040 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $325.79, for a total transaction of $1,641,981.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 20,254 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,598,550.66. This represents a 19.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Lester B. Knight purchased 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $319.24 per share, with a total value of $1,276,960.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 143,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,651,320. This represents a 2.88% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 1.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

AON Profile

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.