We started seeing tectonic shifts in the market during the third quarter. Small-cap stocks underperformed the large-cap stocks by more than 10 percentage points between the end of June 2015 and the end of June 2016. A mean reversion in trends bumped small-cap stocks’ return to almost 9% in third quarter, outperforming their large-cap peers by 5 percentage points. The momentum in small-cap space hasn’t subsided during this quarter either. Small-cap stocks beat large-cap stocks by another 5 percentage points during the first 7 weeks of this quarter. Hedge funds and institutional investors tracked by Insider Monkey usually invest a disproportionate amount of their portfolios in smaller cap stocks. We have been receiving indications that hedge funds were boosting their overall exposure and this is one of the factors behind the recent movements in major indices. In this article, we will take a closer look at hedge fund sentiment towards Aon PLC (NYSE:AON).
Hedge fund interest in Aon PLC (NYSE:AON) shares was flat at the end of last quarter. This is usually a negative indicator. The level and the change in hedge fund popularity aren’t the only variables you need to analyze to decipher hedge funds’ perspectives. A stock may witness a boost in popularity but it may still be less popular than similarly priced stocks. That’s why at the end of this article we will examine companies such as Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE:JCI), SYSCO Corporation (NYSE:SYY), and Kellogg Company (NYSE:K) to gather more data points.
Follow Aon Plc (NYSE:AON)
Follow Aon Plc (NYSE:AON)
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Keeping this in mind, let’s view the recent action encompassing Aon PLC (NYSE:AON).
Hedge fund activity in Aon PLC (NYSE:AON)
At the end of the third quarter, a total of 31 of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey held long positions in Aon PLC, unchanged from one quarter earlier. With hedge funds’ sentiment swirling, there exists an “upper tier” of key hedge fund managers who were upping their holdings considerably (or already accumulated large positions).
When looking at the institutional investors followed by Insider Monkey, Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management has the number one position in Aon PLC (NYSE:AON), worth close to $1.40 billion, amounting to 6% of its total 13F portfolio. On Eagle Capital Management’s heels is First Pacific Advisors LLC, managed by Robert Rodriguez and Steven Romick, which holds a $615.3 million position; the fund has 5.1% of its 13F portfolio invested in the stock. Remaining peers with similar optimism encompass Charles de Vaulx’s International Value Advisers, Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group and Jonathan Bloomberg’s BloombergSen.
