Nomura Holdings Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Nomura Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,177,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Lester B. Knight bought 10,000 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $276.61 per share, for a total transaction of $2,766,100.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,448,790. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

AON Price Performance

AON opened at $297.75 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $291.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $304.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.91. Aon plc has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $347.37.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). The business had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. AON had a net margin of 19.04% and a negative return on equity of 1,083.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $5.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This is an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.91%. AON’s dividend payout ratio is 21.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $345.00 to $306.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on AON from $300.00 to $289.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $311.00 price target on shares of AON in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on AON from $318.00 to $353.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AON presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $321.86.

AON Profile

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.