Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Decreases Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 46.3% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,248 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $1,772,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AON by 0.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AON by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,322,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,489,690,000 after buying an additional 38,447 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in AON by 15.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,564,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,182,000 after buying an additional 343,592 shares during the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AON by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,323,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $475,251,000 after acquiring an additional 7,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of AON by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,237,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $444,563,000 after acquiring an additional 31,021 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on AON shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $386.21.

AON Stock Performance

AON stock opened at $390.90 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $382.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $369.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.88, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a current ratio of 1.40. Aon plc has a 1 year low of $268.06 and a 1 year high of $412.97.

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

AON Announces Dividend

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