Norges Bank Purchases New Shares in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Norges Bank bought a new position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,661,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $596,665,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in AON in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 2,025.0% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 85 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of AON in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its position in AON by 1,162.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in AON during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

AON Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of AON stock opened at $394.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. Aon plc has a 12-month low of $268.06 and a 12-month high of $412.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $388.72 and its 200 day moving average is $372.06.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a return on equity of 70.84% and a net margin of 16.91%. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.89 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.33%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AON has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI upgraded AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of AON from $411.00 to $414.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of AON to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $386.21.

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.