J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Buys 63 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 63 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $264,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of AON by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,479,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,452,390,000 after buying an additional 50,290 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of AON by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,331,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $678,406,000 after purchasing an additional 179,238 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of AON by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,244,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $727,844,000 after purchasing an additional 18,500 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of AON by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,523,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $494,094,000 after purchasing an additional 55,703 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of AON by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,311,515 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $425,219,000 after purchasing an additional 7,093 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on AON. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AON from $306.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of AON from $350.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of AON from $333.00 to $308.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AON from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $334.69.

AON Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of AON stock opened at $305.93 on Friday. Aon plc has a 12-month low of $284.85 and a 12-month high of $347.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $60.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.51, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $317.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $314.43.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The financial services provider reported $3.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.07 by ($0.18). AON had a negative return on equity of 1,150.40% and a net margin of 19.17%. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.89 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Aon plc will post 15.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Lester B. Knight purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $301.97 per share, for a total transaction of $15,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 134,000 shares in the company, valued at $40,463,980. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Lester B. Knight purchased 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were bought at an average price of $301.97 per share, for a total transaction of $15,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 134,000 shares in the company, valued at $40,463,980. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Christa Davies sold 40,164 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.29, for a total transaction of $12,582,979.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 159,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,991,685.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 74,532 shares of company stock valued at $23,335,805 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

About AON

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides a range of risk and human capital solutions worldwide. It offers commercial risk solutions, including retail brokerage, specialty solutions, global risk consulting and captives management, and affinity programs; and health solutions, such as health and benefits brokerages, and health care exchanges.