AON (AON) Competitors

AON (NYSE:AON) and Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) are both large-cap finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, dividends and risk.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of AON or WTW?

86.1% of AON shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of AON shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media favor AON or WTW?

In the previous week, AON had 7 more articles in the media than Willis Towers Watson Public. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for AON and 14 mentions for Willis Towers Watson Public. Willis Towers Watson Public's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat AON's score of 0.80 indicating that Willis Towers Watson Public is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AON	18 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Willis Towers Watson Public	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk & volatility, AON or WTW?

AON has a beta of 0.84, indicating that its stock price is 16% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Willis Towers Watson Public has a beta of 0.68, indicating that its stock price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer AON or WTW?

AON currently has a consensus target price of $397.27, suggesting a potential upside of 11.88%. Willis Towers Watson Public has a consensus target price of $356.30, suggesting a potential upside of 16.20%. Given Willis Towers Watson Public's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Willis Towers Watson Public is more favorable than AON.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AON	1 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.43
Willis Towers Watson Public	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Is AON or WTW more profitable?

AON has a net margin of 15.58% compared to Willis Towers Watson Public's net margin of -0.54%. AON's return on equity of 52.71% beat Willis Towers Watson Public's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AON	15.58%	52.71%	6.82%
Willis Towers Watson Public	-0.54%	20.53%	6.06%

Is AON or WTW a better dividend stock?

AON pays an annual dividend of $2.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Willis Towers Watson Public pays an annual dividend of $3.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. AON pays out 25.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Willis Towers Watson Public pays out -736.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Willis Towers Watson Public has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Willis Towers Watson Public is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, AON or WTW?

AON has higher revenue and earnings than Willis Towers Watson Public. Willis Towers Watson Public is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AON, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AON	$15.70B	4.88	$2.65B	$11.74	30.25
Willis Towers Watson Public	$9.93B	3.06	-$98M	-$0.50	-613.25

Summary

AON beats Willis Towers Watson Public on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.