Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $419.1250.

Several analysts have recently commented on AON shares. Piper Sandler raised their target price on AON from $393.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on AON from $428.00 to $410.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Morgan Stanley upgraded AON from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $385.00 to $430.00 in a report on Thursday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of AON from $436.00 to $433.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of AON from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $402.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd.

AON Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of AON opened at $349.98 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. AON has a 1-year low of $323.73 and a 1-year high of $412.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.86. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $351.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $357.62.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The financial services provider reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.91 by $0.14. AON had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 50.91%. The business had revenue of $4 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.97 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.72 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that AON will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 3rd were given a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.88%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AON

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AON by 60.9% during the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 115,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,188,000 after purchasing an additional 43,733 shares during the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in shares of AON in the third quarter valued at approximately $504,424,000. Creative Planning lifted its position in AON by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 32,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,445,000 after acquiring an additional 2,620 shares during the last quarter. FJ Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AON in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,489,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in AON by 171.5% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 114,388 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,691,000 after acquiring an additional 72,263 shares during the period. 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.