Piper Sandler Issues Positive Forecast for AON (NYSE:AON) Stock Price

AON (NYSE:AON) had its price target hoisted by Piper Sandler from $372.00 to $384.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on AON from $344.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock 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 assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AON presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $380.80.

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON stock opened at $375.29 on Monday. The firm 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $366.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $354.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. AON has a twelve month low of $268.06 and a twelve month high of $395.33.

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

AON Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other AON news, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. This trade represents a 13.63 % 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AON. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in AON during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $336,375,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 57,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in AON by 0.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 32,417 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in AON by 13.8% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,345,000 after acquiring an additional 20,084 shares during the period. Finally, Retireful LLC acquired a new position in shares of AON during the 3rd quarter worth $759,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.