Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eleven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $420.00.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of AON from $436.00 to $433.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of AON from $427.00 to $419.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 17th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (up from $401.00) on shares of AON in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of AON from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $400.00 to $426.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of AON in a research note on Friday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AON

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in AON by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 20,289,743 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,238,569,000 after buying an additional 511,292 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in AON by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,588,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,987,961,000 after buying an additional 173,722 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in AON by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,507,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,391,000 after buying an additional 473,594 shares during the period. Polen Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 2,288,397 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in AON by 13.2% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,706,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $965,715,000 after buying an additional 316,333 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AON Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of AON stock opened at $337.58 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.27, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. AON has a 12-month low of $323.73 and a 12-month high of $412.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $360.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $360.10.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.16 billion. AON had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 50.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.93 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that AON will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 3rd will be paid a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.96%.

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.