Apella Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Apella Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 770 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $288,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 88,361 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AON by 14.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position 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 worth $921,182,000 after acquiring an additional 343,592 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of AON by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,329,221 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $824,498,000 after acquiring an additional 64,720 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of AON by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,158,943 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $775,406,000 after acquiring an additional 183,442 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their target price on AON from $414.00 to $409.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Redburn Partners set a $445.00 target price on AON in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays lowered their price objective on AON from $430.00 to $415.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $397.27.

AON Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:AON opened at $370.34 on Friday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $364.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $374.00. Aon plc has a 12-month low of $282.98 and a 12-month high of $412.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $6.04 by ($0.37). AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $5.66 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 1st were paid a dividend of $0.745 per share. This is a boost from AON's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.80%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 1st. AON's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.38%.

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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