AON (NYSE:AON) Given New $445.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

AON (NYSE:AON) had its price target lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $410.00 to $445.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on AON from $344.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on AON from $415.00 to $411.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Barclays boosted their price objective on AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $380.80.

AON Stock Performance

AON opened at $375.29 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $81.16 billion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. AON has a 1 year low of $268.06 and a 1 year high of $395.33. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $366.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $354.50.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a return on equity of 70.84% and a net margin of 16.91%. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that AON will post 17.39 EPS for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. AON’s payout ratio is presently 21.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AON news, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 1,816 shares in the company, valued at $716,121.44. This trade represents a 26.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $494,292.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. The trade was a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AON

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of AON by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $181,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the period. Grove Street Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in AON during the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in AON during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in AON by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 2,745 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $986,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mattern Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AON by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mattern Capital Management LLC now owns 2,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

About AON

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.