Gateway Advisory LLC Purchases New Shares in Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

Gateway Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Aon plc (NYSE:AON) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in AON by 106,777.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 2,817,279 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $845,578,000 after buying an additional 2,814,643 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of AON in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $341,922,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of AON by 565.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 989,370 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $311,938,000 after purchasing an additional 840,742 shares in the last quarter. C WorldWide Group Holding A S purchased a new stake in AON in the second quarter worth $271,770,000. Finally, Sustainable Growth Advisers LP lifted its position in AON by 41.8% during the second quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 2,547,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $879,363,000 after buying an additional 751,015 shares during the period. 86.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at AON

In other AON news, Director Byron Spruell bought 800 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $324.57 per share, with a total value of $259,656.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 4,001 shares in the company, valued at $1,298,604.57. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on AON. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of AON from $331.00 to $339.00 in a research report on Friday, October 6th. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on shares of AON from $322.00 to $318.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their price target on AON from $365.00 to $380.00 in a research report on Sunday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered AON from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $317.00 to $304.00 in a research report on Monday, October 30th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on AON in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AON presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $344.08.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AON traded down $3.92 during trading on Friday, reaching $329.74. 1,419,073 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 895,273. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.02 billion, a PE ratio of 25.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $326.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.08. Aon plc has a 52-week low of $280.89 and a 52-week high of $347.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 61.66.

AON (NYSE:AON) last announced its earnings results on Friday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $2.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. AON had a net margin of 20.74% and a negative return on equity of 1,685.76%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Aon plc will post 14.35 earnings per share for the current year.

AON Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 1st were given a dividend of $0.615 per share. This represents a $2.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 31st. AON’s payout ratio is currently 18.71%.

About AON

Aon plc, a professional services firm, provides advice and solutions to clients focused on risk, retirement, and health 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.