Choate Investment Advisors Raises Stock Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Choate Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 82 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in AON were worth $329,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in AON by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,237,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $444,563,000 after purchasing an additional 31,021 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its position in AON by 27.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 96,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,676,000 after purchasing an additional 20,942 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in AON by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 26,533 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,530,000 after purchasing an additional 1,451 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in AON by 43,000.8% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 390,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,404,000 after purchasing an additional 390,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in AON by 0.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 32,417 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on AON. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $386.21.

AON Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AON opened at $390.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $84.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.88, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. Aon plc has a 52 week low of $268.06 and a 52 week high of $412.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $382.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $369.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.89 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

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