Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Aon plc by 2.3%, owning approximately 286,512 shares valued at $114.3 million as of the latest quarter.
• Aon reported earnings of $3.49 per share for the last quarter, exceeding expectations and reflecting a 10.5% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.745 per share, with a dividend yield of 0.84% and a payout ratio of 24.96%.

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 286,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,348 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.13% of AON worth $114,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 worth $304,052,000 after purchasing an additional 760,516 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised 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 worth $1,773,165,000 after acquiring an additional 627,742 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in AON by 5,877.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in AON by 18.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,034,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,210,864,000 after acquiring an additional 469,238 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in AON by 205.1% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 493,694 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $197,028,000 after purchasing an additional 331,888 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AON shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded AON from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $408.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $420.00 target price (up previously from $401.00) on shares of AON in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AON from $411.00 to $421.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded AON from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $400.00 to $426.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $409.21.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE AON traded down $2.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $353.09. 1,640,932 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,348,763. Aon plc has a 12-month low of $322.95 and a 12-month high of $412.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93. The company has a market cap of $76.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $358.07 and a 200 day moving average of $370.74.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.49 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.40 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $4.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.16 billion. AON had a net margin of 15.54% and a return on equity of 50.91%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.93 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 1st will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.96%.

AON 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.