NorthRock Partners LLC Acquires 249 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

NorthRock Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 19.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in AON were worth $514,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Regency Capital Management Inc. DE bought a new position in shares of AON during the first quarter valued at approximately $2,137,000. TCI Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of AON during the first quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AON during the first quarter valued at approximately $5,103,000. KCM Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AON during the first quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of AON during the first quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AON news, Director Lester B. Knight acquired 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $276.61 per share, with a total value of $2,766,100.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,448,790. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

AON Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE AON traded up $1.22 on Tuesday, reaching $298.53. The company had a trading volume of 23,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,282,356. The stock has a market capitalization of $64.91 billion, a PE ratio of 23.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $290.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $302.10. Aon plc has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $344.68.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). The company had revenue of $4.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.14 billion. AON had a net margin of 19.04% and a negative return on equity of 1,083.00%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.42 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 1st will be paid a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. AON’s payout ratio is currently 21.16%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on AON. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of AON in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of AON from $289.00 to $287.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America cut shares of AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $345.00 to $306.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of AON from $353.00 to $379.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $321.36.

AON Company Profile

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides a range of risk and human capital solutions worldwide. It offers commercial risk solutions, including retail brokerage, specialty solutions, global risk consulting and captives management, and affinity programs; and health solutions, such as health and benefits brokerages, and health care exchanges.