Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 7.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 26,890 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $9,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in AON in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AON by 2,025.0% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 85 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of AON by 1,162.5% during the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of AON in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in AON in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AON shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $386.21.

AON Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE:AON opened at $399.88 on Wednesday. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $412.97. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The company has a market cap of $86.37 billion, a PE ratio of 31.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $378.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $367.91.

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

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.33%.

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.