Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 7.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 697 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 50 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $251,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of AON by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,237,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,563,000 after buying an additional 31,021 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of AON by 27.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 96,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,676,000 after purchasing an additional 20,942 shares during the period. Aviva PLC raised its stake in shares of AON by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 255,760 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $91,859,000 after purchasing an additional 40,850 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of AON by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 26,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of AON by 43,000.8% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 390,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,404,000 after purchasing an additional 390,017 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on AON shares. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays decreased their target price on AON from $430.00 to $415.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded AON to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $390.67.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE:AON opened at $354.10 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $76.46 billion, a PE ratio of 27.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.89. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $275.07 and a fifty-two week high of $412.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $377.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $375.67.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.04 by ($0.37). The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.83 billion. AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $5.66 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

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

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.