Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $337.27.

A number of research firms have commented on AON. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of AON from $311.00 to $353.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America downgraded shares of AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $345.00 to $306.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 22nd. Citigroup assumed coverage on AON in a research report on Wednesday, May 22nd. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $309.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of AON in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of AON from $287.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

AON Stock Up 0.8 %

AON stock opened at $350.69 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market cap of $76.25 billion, a PE ratio of 27.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.92. AON has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $353.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $326.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $310.44.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by ($0.15). AON had a return on equity of 252.81% and a net margin of 18.00%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that AON will post 15.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.77%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. AON’s payout ratio is 21.16%.

Institutional Trading of AON

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in AON by 262.7% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in AON by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 1,923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its holdings in AON by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 76,853 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 6,962 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in AON by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 6,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,947,000 after acquiring an additional 587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter valued at about $423,030,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

About AON

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.