Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Shares Acquired by Boston Partners

Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,035,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 244,706 shares during the quarter. AON comprises about 0.9% of Boston Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Boston Partners’ holdings in AON were worth $731,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its holdings in AON by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 2,338 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its stake in AON by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AON by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,326,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in AON by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 1,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $406,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, Sandy Cove Advisors LLC boosted its stake in AON by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Sandy Cove Advisors LLC now owns 1,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 research note on Friday, January 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, AON presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $386.21.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of AON opened at $390.90 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40. The company has a market capitalization of $84.43 billion, a PE ratio of 30.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $382.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $369.46. Aon plc has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm earned $3.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

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