Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Aon plc has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with eight buy recommendations, four holds, and one sell.
• The average 12-month target price for Aon is $409.21, with recent analyst reports suggesting price targets ranging from $409.00 to $426.00.
• Aon recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.745, with a dividend yield of 0.8% and a payout ratio of 24.96%.

Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the thirteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $409.2143.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of AON from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $400.00 to $426.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on AON from $411.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on AON from $414.00 to $409.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of AON from $393.00 to $413.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Finally, Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (up from $401.00) on shares of AON in a research report on Thursday, July 31st.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AON opened at $364.85 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.83. AON has a 52 week low of $323.73 and a 52 week high of $412.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $358.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $370.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 1.52 and a current ratio of 1.52.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.16 billion. AON had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 50.91%. The firm's revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. Analysts predict that AON will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be given a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 1st. AON's payout ratio is presently 24.96%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AON

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AON. Polen Capital Management LLC raised its position in AON by 318.1% during the first quarter. Polen Capital Management LLC now owns 3,007,719 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,200,350,000 after purchasing an additional 2,288,397 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of AON during the 1st quarter worth $505,108,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in AON in the first quarter valued at about $490,634,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in AON by 56,460.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 761,863 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $304,052,000 after acquiring an additional 760,516 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in AON by 5,877.4% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 536,174 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $192,572,000 after acquiring an additional 527,204 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

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.

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