Founders Financial Alliance LLC Makes New Investment in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Founders Financial Alliance LLC bought a new position in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,160 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of AON by 1.1% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,479,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,452,390,000 after acquiring an additional 50,290 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of AON by 8.3% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,331,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $678,406,000 after purchasing an additional 179,238 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of AON by 0.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,244,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $727,844,000 after buying an additional 18,500 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of AON by 3.8% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,523,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $494,094,000 after buying an additional 55,703 shares during the period. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in AON by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,472,309 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $428,280,000 after acquiring an additional 182,688 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America lowered AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $345.00 to $306.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of AON from $300.00 to $289.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 29th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of AON from $333.00 to $308.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of AON from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on AON in a report on Wednesday. They set a “neutral” rating and a $309.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $325.43.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of AON stock traded up $1.40 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $280.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,721,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,201,567. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $305.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $309.46. The company has a market capitalization of $61.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.90. Aon plc has a twelve month low of $268.06 and a twelve month high of $347.37.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The financial services provider reported $5.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20). The firm had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.14 billion. AON had a net margin of 19.04% and a negative return on equity of 1,083.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.17 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Aon plc will post 15.48 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st were paid a $0.675 dividend. This is a boost from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. AON’s payout ratio is 21.16%.

Insider Activity at AON

In related news, Director Lester B. Knight purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $276.61 per share, with a total value of $2,766,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 139,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,448,790. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

AON Company Profile

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides a range of risk and human capital solutions worldwide. It offers commercial risk solutions, including retail brokerage, specialty solutions, global risk consulting and captives management, and affinity programs; and health solutions, such as health and benefits brokerages, and health care exchanges.