Strs Ohio Boosts Stock Position in Aon plc $AON

Strs Ohio lifted its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 68,808 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,226 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio’s holdings in AON were worth $22,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AON. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in AON by 126.6% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 7,852,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,770,975,000 after buying an additional 4,387,773 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AON during the 4th quarter worth $1,155,981,000. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new position in shares of AON during the 3rd quarter valued at about $504,424,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of AON by 40,219.8% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 846,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,922,000 after purchasing an additional 844,615 shares during the period. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP acquired a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter worth about $229,372,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on AON shares. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on shares of AON from $360.00 to $355.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of AON from $380.00 to $370.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on AON from $416.00 to $401.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on AON from $443.00 to $402.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on AON from $412.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AON currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $394.94.

AON Price Performance

AON stock opened at $356.89 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $323.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $330.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95. Aon plc has a 1 year low of $304.59 and a 1 year high of $381.00. The company has a market capitalization of $76.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.71.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $6.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $6.37 by $0.11. AON had a net margin of 22.54% and a return on equity of 43.50%. The firm had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $5.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Aon plc will post 19.09 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 1st were paid a $0.82 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 1st. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. AON’s payout ratio is presently 18.00%.

About AON

Aon plc is a global professional services firm that provides a broad suite of risk, retirement and health solutions to corporations, institutions and individuals. The company operates primarily as an insurance broker and risk adviser, helping clients identify, quantify and transfer risk across property, casualty, cyber and other areas. Aon also offers reinsurance brokerage and capital market solutions that connect insurers, reinsurers and corporate buyers.

In addition to traditional brokerage activities, Aon delivers consulting and outsourcing services in areas such as human capital, benefits, and retirement plan design and administration.