Northern Trust Corp Boosts Stock Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 2,158,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 183,442 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in AON were worth $775,406,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in AON. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in AON in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,685,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in AON by 1,162.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co lifted its holdings in AON by 11.1% in the third quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 10,093 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,492,000 after acquiring an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in AON in the third quarter valued at approximately $275,000. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in AON in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,959,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on AON shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on AON from $396.00 to $416.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Barclays cut their price objective on AON from $440.00 to $430.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Redburn Partners set a $445.00 target price on AON in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AON has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $392.00.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of AON stock opened at $343.63 on Tuesday. Aon plc has a one year low of $275.07 and a one year high of $412.97. The company has a market cap of $74.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $385.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $375.83.

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

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.745 per share. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.87%. AON’s payout ratio is presently 25.38%.

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.