Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $397.27.

AON has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler raised AON from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $384.00 to $378.00 in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Redburn Atlantic raised AON to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 price target on AON in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised AON from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $408.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE AON opened at $354.71 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $358.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $371.01. AON has a 12-month low of $285.35 and a 12-month high of $412.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.21, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.86.

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

AON Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a $0.745 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.84%. This is a positive change from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. AON’s dividend payout ratio is presently 25.38%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AON by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,778,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,893,382,000 after purchasing an additional 258,699 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $1,773,165,000 after purchasing an additional 627,742 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of AON by 18.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,034,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,210,864,000 after purchasing an additional 469,238 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of AON by 318.1% during the 1st quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,007,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,200,350,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288,397 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of AON by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,390,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $954,053,000 after purchasing an additional 61,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

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.