Aon plc (AON) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 30th

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 12th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.675 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62.

AON has increased its dividend by an average of 10.6% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 13 years. AON has a dividend payout ratio of 15.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect AON to earn $17.38 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.5%.

AON Stock Down 6.9 %

Shares of AON opened at $285.03 on Friday. AON has a 52-week low of $268.06 and a 52-week high of $347.37. The company has a market capitalization of $56.58 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $314.06.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $4.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. AON had a negative return on equity of 1,150.40% and a net margin of 19.17%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.17 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that AON will post 15.82 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of AON in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $390.00 price objective on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AON from $306.00 to $326.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on AON from $342.00 to $325.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of AON from $350.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $334.69.

Insider Buying and Selling at AON

In other news, Director Lester B. Knight acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $301.97 per share, for a total transaction of $15,098,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 134,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,463,980. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other AON news, Director Lester B. Knight acquired 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $301.97 per share, with a total value of $15,098,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 134,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,463,980. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Christa Davies sold 40,164 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.29, for a total transaction of $12,582,979.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 159,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $49,991,685.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 74,532 shares of company stock worth $23,335,805 in the last quarter. 1.15% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About AON

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides a range of risk and human capital solutions worldwide. It offers commercial risk solutions, including retail brokerage, specialty solutions, global risk consulting and captives management, and affinity programs; and health solutions, such as health and benefits brokerages, and health care exchanges.