CENTRAL TRUST Co Purchases 138 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 12.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in AON were worth $495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of AON by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,010,714,000 after acquiring an additional 88,361 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of AON by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,564,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $921,182,000 after purchasing an additional 343,592 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of AON by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,329,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $824,498,000 after purchasing an additional 64,720 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of AON by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,158,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $775,406,000 after buying an additional 183,442 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:AON opened at $350.42 on Friday. Aon plc has a one year low of $285.35 and a one year high of $412.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26, a current ratio of 1.73 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $75.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.85, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.86. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $371.66.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.04 by ($0.37). The firm had revenue of $4.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.83 billion. AON had a net margin of 15.58% and a return on equity of 52.71%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $5.66 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.745 per share. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.85%. This is a positive change from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 1st. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on AON shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on AON from $396.00 to $416.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 target price on AON in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Piper Sandler raised AON from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $384.00 to $378.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of AON from $430.00 to $415.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AON currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $397.27.

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.