Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Lowers Position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON - Free Report) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 707,723 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,273 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.33% of AON worth $254,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alta Advisers Ltd boosted its holdings in AON by 18.3% during the 4th quarter. Alta Advisers Ltd now owns 710 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of AON by 117.9% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 104,083 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,231,000 after acquiring an additional 56,314 shares during the period. Fayez Sarofim & Co purchased a new stake in shares of AON during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,905,000. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lifted its stake in AON by 15.4% in the fourth quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 122,848 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $44,122,000 after purchasing an additional 16,399 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in AON by 46.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 12,386 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,449,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

AON Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of AON stock traded up $6.39 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $349.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,571,327 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,253,067. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The company has a market cap of $75.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.82. The firm's 50-day moving average is $385.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $375.83. Aon plc has a 52-week low of $275.07 and a 52-week high of $412.97.

AON (NYSE:AON - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $5.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.04 by ($0.37). AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. The company had revenue of $4.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $5.66 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 16.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.745 per share. This is a positive change from AON's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $2.98 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.85%. AON's dividend payout ratio is presently 25.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on AON. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AON to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of AON from $394.00 to $409.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of AON from $420.00 to $398.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded AON from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $384.00 to $378.00 in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $392.00.

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.