Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $386.21.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AON shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AON

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in AON by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,010,714,000 after buying an additional 88,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in AON by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,059,977,000 after buying an additional 32,417 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AON by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,949,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,773,165,000 after purchasing an additional 627,742 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of AON by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,564,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,182,000 after purchasing an additional 343,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of AON by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,329,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $824,498,000 after purchasing an additional 64,720 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Price Performance

NYSE AON opened at $390.90 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $382.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $369.46. AON has a 12-month low of $268.06 and a 12-month high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that AON will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.