HighTower Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 258 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in AON were worth $13,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in AON. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AON in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of AON by 2,025.0% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 85 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of AON by 1,162.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AON in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of AON in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their price objective on AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $386.21.

AON Stock Performance

NYSE:AON opened at $399.34 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $381.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $369.13. Aon plc has a 52-week low of $268.06 and a 52-week high of $412.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.26 billion, a PE ratio of 31.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the firm earned $3.89 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 EPS for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.675 dividend. 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%.

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.