American Century Companies Inc. Increases Stock Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 49.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,006 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $10,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of AON. Meritage Group LP bought a new stake in AON during the first quarter valued at about $258,471,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AON in the 1st quarter valued at about $210,911,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AON by 37.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,000,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $587,445,000 after buying an additional 548,563 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in AON by 32.0% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,943,733 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $648,663,000 after acquiring an additional 471,424 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiducient Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in AON in the second quarter valued at approximately $109,327,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AON has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on shares of AON in a report on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of AON in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of AON from $312.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AON has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $337.27.

AON Stock Up 0.0 %

AON stock opened at $347.03 on Monday. Aon plc has a 52 week low of $268.06 and a 52 week high of $353.54. The firm has a market cap of $75.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.92. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $330.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $311.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.42, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.08 by ($0.15). AON had a net margin of 18.00% and a return on equity of 252.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.76 earnings per share. AON’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 15.23 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. AON’s payout ratio is currently 21.16%.

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.