Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Buys 960,204 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership increased its stake in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 86.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,067,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 960,204 shares during the quarter. AON makes up 1.1% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in AON were worth $742,582,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in AON. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in AON by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,519,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,010,714,000 after buying an additional 88,361 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of AON by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,844,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,059,977,000 after acquiring an additional 32,417 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in AON by 0.9% in the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 38,447 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in AON by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,564,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $921,182,000 after purchasing an additional 343,592 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of AON by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,329,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $824,498,000 after purchasing an additional 64,720 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AON has been the subject of a number of research reports. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of AON from $372.00 to $384.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI raised AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on AON from $410.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $386.21.

AON Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE AON opened at $396.29 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $387.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $371.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.60 billion, a PE ratio of 31.30, a PEG ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 0.92. Aon plc has a fifty-two week low of $268.06 and a fifty-two week high of $412.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 1.40.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 70.84% and a net margin of 16.91%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Aon plc will post 17.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors 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 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. AON’s dividend payout ratio is 21.33%.

AON Company 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.