First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 527,204 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 5,877.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 536,174 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 527,204 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in AON were worth $192,572,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in AON by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,010,714,000 after acquiring an additional 88,361 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 627,742 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of AON by 15.5% in 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 buying an additional 343,592 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in AON by 2.9% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC grew its position in shares of AON by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,123,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $762,796,000 after purchasing an additional 86,148 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AON has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Evercore ISI raised AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AON presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $393.87.

AON Stock Down 1.5 %

NYSE AON opened at $367.08 on Friday. Aon plc has a 1 year low of $268.06 and a 1 year high of $412.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The business’s 50-day moving average is $389.51 and its 200 day moving average is $375.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.29 billion, a PE ratio of 29.00, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.89 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 1st will be paid a $0.745 dividend. This represents a $2.98 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.81%. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. AON’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.54%.

About AON

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.