AON (AON) Competitors

AON (NYSE:AON) and Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility & risk, AON or WTW?

AON has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Willis Towers Watson Public has a beta of 0.73, meaning that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AON or WTW a better dividend stock?

AON pays an annual dividend of $2.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Willis Towers Watson Public pays an annual dividend of $3.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. AON pays out 25.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Willis Towers Watson Public pays out 252.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Willis Towers Watson Public has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Willis Towers Watson Public is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in AON or WTW?

86.1% of AON shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of AON shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is AON or WTW more profitable?

AON has a net margin of 15.54% compared to Willis Towers Watson Public's net margin of 1.40%. AON's return on equity of 50.91% beat Willis Towers Watson Public's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AON	15.54%	50.91%	7.00%
Willis Towers Watson Public	1.40%	21.60%	6.20%

Do analysts recommend AON or WTW?

AON presently has a consensus price target of $415.06, indicating a potential upside of 14.01%. Willis Towers Watson Public has a consensus price target of $367.09, indicating a potential upside of 5.75%. Given AON's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe AON is more favorable than Willis Towers Watson Public.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AON	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Willis Towers Watson Public	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54

Which has better earnings & valuation, AON or WTW?

AON has higher revenue and earnings than Willis Towers Watson Public. AON is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Willis Towers Watson Public, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AON	$15.70B	5.00	$2.65B	$11.94	30.49
Willis Towers Watson Public	$9.93B	3.41	-$98M	$1.46	237.77

Does the media prefer AON or WTW?

In the previous week, Willis Towers Watson Public had 2 more articles in the media than AON. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Willis Towers Watson Public and 19 mentions for AON. AON's average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat Willis Towers Watson Public's score of 0.52 indicating that AON is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AON	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Willis Towers Watson Public	3 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

AON beats Willis Towers Watson Public on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.