Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $386.21.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lifted their target price on AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI raised AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,121.44. The trade was a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total value of $494,292.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. This trade represents a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AON. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of AON during the fourth quarter worth about $596,665,000. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of AON during the third quarter worth about $336,375,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of AON by 86.7% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,067,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $742,582,000 after purchasing an additional 960,204 shares in the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in shares of AON by 41.6% in the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 3,010,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,623,000 after acquiring an additional 883,761 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of AON by 334.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,050,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,475,000 after acquiring an additional 808,990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Trading Up 1.0 %

AON opened at $390.47 on Friday. AON has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $395.33. The company has a market cap of $84.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.84, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $365.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $358.67.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that AON will post 17.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.33%.

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.