AON (NYSE:AON) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Aon plc (NYSE:AON)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $395.65 and last traded at $395.02, with a volume of 345920 shares. The stock had previously closed at $391.09.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AON has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. TD Cowen lifted their target price on AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $386.21.

AON Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $366.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $360.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.40 billion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.93.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s payout ratio is presently 21.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. This represents a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of AON stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total value of $256,321.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,121.44. This represents a 26.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AON

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of AON by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,010,714,000 after acquiring an additional 88,361 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in AON by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,059,977,000 after purchasing an additional 32,417 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in AON by 14.5% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,949,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,773,165,000 after purchasing an additional 627,742 shares during the period. Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its stake in AON by 41.6% in the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 3,010,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,623,000 after purchasing an additional 883,761 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of AON by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,564,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,182,000 after buying an additional 343,592 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.