Investment Management Corp of Ontario Raises Stock Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 11.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,272 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 776 shares during the quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in AON were worth $2,612,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AON. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of AON during the 4th quarter valued at about $596,665,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 86.7% during the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,067,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $742,582,000 after purchasing an additional 960,204 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 14.5% during 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 during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 5,877.4% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 536,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $192,572,000 after purchasing an additional 527,204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 43,000.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 390,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,404,000 after purchasing an additional 390,017 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Piper Sandler raised shares of AON from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $384.00 to $378.00 in a report on Monday, April 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of AON from $414.00 to $409.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $390.67.

AON Stock Performance

AON stock opened at $354.10 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $275.07 and a 1-year high of $412.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.89. The company’s 50-day moving average is $377.50 and its 200 day moving average is $375.67.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.04 by ($0.37). AON had a return on equity of 70.84% and a net margin of 16.91%. The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $5.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.745 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This is a positive change from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.84%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.38%.

AON Company Profile

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.