Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 340,866 Shares of Aon plc $AON

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 74.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 797,418 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 340,866 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in AON were worth $257,391,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in AON by 126.6% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 7,852,456 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,770,975,000 after buying an additional 4,387,773 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AON in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,155,981,000. Viking Global Investors LP purchased a new position in AON during the 3rd quarter valued at about $504,424,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in AON by 40,219.8% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 846,715 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,922,000 after purchasing an additional 844,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Southpoint Capital Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of AON during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $229,372,000. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AON Price Performance

Shares of AON opened at $361.26 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $331.38. The firm has a market cap of $77.16 billion, a PE ratio of 19.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. Aon plc has a 1-year low of $304.59 and a 1-year high of $381.00.

AON (NYSE:AON) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 2nd. The financial services provider reported $6.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.37 by $0.11. AON had a return on equity of 43.50% and a net margin of 22.54%.The business had revenue of $5.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.97 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.67 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 19.09 EPS for the current year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.82 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $3.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel Darren Zeidel sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $360.00, for a total value of $216,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 15,354 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,527,440. This represents a 3.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on AON. UBS Group upped their target price on AON from $360.00 to $383.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays upped their target price on AON from $372.00 to $382.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AON from $396.00 to $412.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Piper Sandler cut AON from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $355.00 to $377.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price objective on shares of AON from $416.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, AON currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $404.56.

AON Company Profile

Aon plc is a global professional services firm that provides a broad suite of risk, retirement and health solutions to corporations, institutions and individuals. The company operates primarily as an insurance broker and risk adviser, helping clients identify, quantify and transfer risk across property, casualty, cyber and other areas. Aon also offers reinsurance brokerage and capital market solutions that connect insurers, reinsurers and corporate buyers.

In addition to traditional brokerage activities, Aon delivers consulting and outsourcing services in areas such as human capital, benefits, and retirement plan design and administration.