Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 267,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,893 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.12% of AON worth $96,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,059,977,000 after buying an additional 32,417 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AON by 0.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,322,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,489,690,000 after purchasing an additional 38,447 shares in the last quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP lifted its holdings in AON by 41.6% during the third quarter. Veritas Asset Management LLP now owns 3,010,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,041,623,000 after purchasing an additional 883,761 shares in the last quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in AON by 15.6% during the third quarter. Cantillon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,316,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,398,000 after purchasing an additional 177,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in AON by 1.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,206,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $417,528,000 after purchasing an additional 11,922 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on AON. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AON has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $386.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at AON

In other AON news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,291.36. The trade was a 13.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,121.44. This represents a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

AON Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of AON opened at $390.73 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $366.14 and its 200 day moving average is $360.21. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $395.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.50 billion, a PE ratio of 30.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a current ratio of 1.40.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given 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 was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.