Wesbanco Bank Inc. Acquires 1,394 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. grew its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,394 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $4,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AON in the third quarter valued at about $336,375,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 57,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in AON by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,059,977,000 after purchasing an additional 32,417 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AON by 13.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,345,000 after purchasing an additional 20,084 shares during the period. Finally, Retireful LLC bought a new stake in AON during the third quarter worth about $759,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE AON opened at $367.27 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $368.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $350.41. Aon plc has a 12-month low of $268.06 and a 12-month high of $395.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66. The company has a market cap of $79.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.99, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.93.

AON Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AON has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of AON from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of AON from $415.00 to $411.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $370.87.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AON news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,291.36. The trade was a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares in the company, valued at $716,121.44. This represents a 26.36 % 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 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.