Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Aon plc (NYSE:AON – Get Rating) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given 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 $314.80.

A number of analysts have recently commented on AON shares. TheStreet upgraded AON from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Friday, December 9th. Citigroup boosted their price target on AON from $339.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 8th. Credit Suisse Group assumed coverage on AON in a research report on Friday, January 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $363.00 target price on the stock. MKM Partners boosted their price target on AON from $335.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 5th. Finally, Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of AON in a research note on Tuesday, February 7th.

AON Stock Performance

AON stock opened at $299.02 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $310.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $296.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.27. The firm has a market cap of $61.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.89. AON has a 1-year low of $246.21 and a 1-year high of $341.98.

AON (NYSE:AON – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 3rd. The financial services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.22. The firm had revenue of $3.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.13 billion. AON had a return on equity of 1,165.31% and a net margin of 20.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that AON will post 14.53 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 1st were given a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 31st. AON’s dividend payout ratio is currently 18.48%.

Insider Transactions at AON

In related news, CFO Christa Davies sold 20,528 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.11, for a total transaction of $6,263,298.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 179,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,788,907.81. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other AON news, CFO Christa Davies sold 20,528 shares of AON stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $305.11, for a total transaction of $6,263,298.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 179,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,788,907.81. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael Neller sold 1,000 shares of AON stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.59, for a total value of $311,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,216 shares in the company, valued at approximately $378,893.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 73,389 shares of company stock valued at $22,664,130 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in AON in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $151,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AON by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 4,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,161,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AON in the 3rd quarter worth $252,000. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of AON by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 32,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,754,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of AON by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 58,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,817,000 after purchasing an additional 7,177 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.12% of the company’s stock.

About AON

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Aon Plc operates as a global professional services firm. It provides advice and solutions to clients focused on risk, retirement, and health through the following products and services: Commercial Risk Solutions, Reinsurance Solutions, Retirement Solutions, Health Solutions, and Data and Analytic Services.