Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Cuts Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,968 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 92 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $1,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AON. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 88,361 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $1,773,165,000 after purchasing an additional 627,742 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 worth $921,182,000 after purchasing an additional 343,592 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in AON by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,329,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $824,498,000 after purchasing an additional 64,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC increased its position in shares of AON by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,123,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $762,796,000 after buying an additional 86,148 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of AON from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 price objective on shares of AON in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada raised 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 upped 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AON presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $393.87.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE:AON opened at $367.08 on Friday. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $412.97. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $389.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.16. The company has a market cap of $79.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58.

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

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 1st. This is an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.54%.

About AON

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.