Lester B. Knight Acquires 10,000 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Stock

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Director Lester B. Knight acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $276.61 per share, with a total value of $2,766,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,448,790. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AON opened at $283.81 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $61.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.90. Aon plc has a 1 year low of $268.06 and a 1 year high of $347.37. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $312.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.97.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). AON had a negative return on equity of 1,083.00% and a net margin of 19.04%. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $5.17 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Aon plc will post 15.59 EPS for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.95%. This is an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.16%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on AON. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of AON from $326.00 to $312.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of AON from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AON from $318.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on AON in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $390.00 price target for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AON has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $329.69.

Institutional Trading of AON

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in AON during the fourth quarter worth $423,030,000. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 410.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 654,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $212,184,000 after buying an additional 526,353 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in AON by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 950,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $276,514,000 after acquiring an additional 290,936 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in AON by 401.6% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 344,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,097,000 after acquiring an additional 276,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in AON by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,030,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,802,000 after acquiring an additional 273,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Company Profile

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.