Mizuho Securities USA LLC Acquires 6,410 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 45.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in AON were worth $7,362,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in AON by 23.1% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $111,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of AON by 18.2% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 377 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in shares of AON by 4.3% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in AON by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 3,989 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after buying an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC acquired a new position in AON during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $379,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AON shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $386.21.

AON Stock Down 0.8 %

AON stock opened at $390.02 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $385.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $370.58. Aon plc has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share 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 company earned $3.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. AON’s payout ratio 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.