Aon plc (NYSE:AON) Short Interest Up 6.5% in January

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,570,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the December 31st total of 4,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,020,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days. Currently, 2.2% of the company’s shares are sold short.

AON Trading Up 2.1 %

AON opened at $378.50 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $366.35 and its 200-day moving average is $354.50. AON has a 1-year low of $268.06 and a 1-year high of $395.33. The company has a current ratio of 1.40, a quick ratio of 2.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.58. The company has a market cap of $81.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.83, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.93.

AON (NYSE:AON) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The financial services provider reported $4.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.25 by $0.17. AON had a net margin of 16.91% and a return on equity of 70.84%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.89 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that AON will post 17.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AON Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.675 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. AON’s payout ratio is 21.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other AON news, insider Lisa Stevens sold 1,275 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $387.68, for a total transaction of $494,292.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 8,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,131,291.36. This represents a 13.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Mindy F. Simon sold 650 shares of the company’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 sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 1,816 shares in the company, valued at $716,121.44. This trade represents a 26.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of AON

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Endeavor Private Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AON in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in AON by 2,025.0% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 85 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in AON by 1,162.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. First Personal Financial Services purchased a new position in AON during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Centricity Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in AON during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AON. Evercore ISI raised shares of AON from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $407.00 to $420.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of AON from $415.00 to $411.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of AON from $390.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of AON from $379.00 to $394.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of AON from $413.00 to $432.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AON currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $380.80.

About AON

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.