AON (NYSE:AON) Upgraded to Outperform at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of AON (NYSE:AON) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Evercore ISI currently has $420.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $407.00.

AON has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of AON from $394.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised AON from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $315.00 to $377.00 in a research report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on AON from $325.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $365.25.

AON Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AON opened at $352.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $370.79 and a 200 day moving average of $345.80. The company has a quick ratio of 2.05, a current ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.66. The company has a market capitalization of $76.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.93. AON has a 52 week low of $268.06 and a 52 week high of $395.33.

AON Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 1st were issued a $0.675 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 1st. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.77%. AON’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.78%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 8,077 shares in the company, valued at $3,131,291.36. This trade represents a 13.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.34, for a total transaction of $256,321.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,121.44. The trade was a 26.36 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of AON

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Caprock Group LLC raised its position in shares of AON by 39.0% in the second quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,614 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,061,000 after buying an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of AON by 953.6% during the 2nd quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 6,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,001,000 after purchasing an additional 6,170 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden purchased a new stake in shares of AON in the second quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of AON by 6.5% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 22,519 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. boosted its stake in AON by 12.9% during the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 8,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,438,000 after buying an additional 946 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.