American Century Companies Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Aon plc $AON

American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,413 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $12,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AON during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AON by 54.7% during the first quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in AON during the first quarter valued at $37,000. Accent Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AON in the 1st quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AON during the 1st quarter worth about $42,000. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AON shares. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of AON to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised AON from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $408.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $438.00 price objective (up previously from $436.00) on shares of AON in a research report on Thursday, July 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on AON from $411.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated a “cautious” rating on shares of AON in a report on Monday, August 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $412.69.

AON Stock Performance

AON stock opened at $370.9130 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $359.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $370.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $323.73 and a fifty-two week high of $412.97. The company has a market capitalization of $79.98 billion, a PE ratio of 31.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.83.

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

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st were paid a dividend of $0.745 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 1st. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.