Howard Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 1,246 Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Howard Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 1,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $448,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in AON by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,059,977,000 after acquiring an additional 32,417 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AON by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,322,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,489,690,000 after purchasing an additional 38,447 shares in the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of AON by 41.6% in the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 3,010,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,623,000 after purchasing an additional 883,761 shares during the period. Cantillon Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of AON by 15.6% in the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,316,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,398,000 after purchasing an additional 177,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in AON by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,206,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $417,528,000 after buying an additional 11,922 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on AON shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $386.21.

Insider Activity at AON

In other AON news, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total value of $256,321.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,121.44. The trade was a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON opened at $392.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $369.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $362.52. The stock has a market cap of $84.70 billion, a PE ratio of 30.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.93. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $396.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 2.05.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.89 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. AON’s payout ratio is 21.33%.

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.