Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Short Interest Update

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,570,000 shares, a growth of 6.5% from the December 15th total of 4,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Approximately 2.2% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on AON from $344.00 to $365.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of AON from $345.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AON has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $370.87.

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON stock traded down $2.28 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $365.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 859,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 713,661. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66, a current ratio of 2.05 and a quick ratio of 2.05. AON has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $395.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $368.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $349.01. The stock has a market cap of $79.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 0.93.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. AON’s payout ratio is 22.78%.

Insider Activity at AON

In other news, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was 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 $716,121.44. This trade represents a 26.36 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,131,291.36. The trade was a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AON

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AON in the third quarter valued at $336,375,000. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its position in AON by 150.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 96,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,326,000 after purchasing an additional 57,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in AON by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,059,977,000 after purchasing an additional 32,417 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AON by 13.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 165,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,345,000 after buying an additional 20,084 shares during the period. Finally, Retireful LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AON in the third quarter worth approximately $759,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

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.