GHP Investment Advisors Inc. Purchases 315 Shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON)

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Aon plc (NYSE:AON) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in AON were worth $7,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in AON. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in AON by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AON by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $243,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AON by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $502,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of AON by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $304,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of AON by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AON. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on AON from $300.00 to $296.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded AON from an “underperform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $313.00 to $380.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup initiated coverage on AON in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. They set a “neutral” rating and a $309.00 price target on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on AON in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $394.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America lowered AON from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $345.00 to $306.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $337.27.

AON Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE AON opened at $348.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 2.42 and a current ratio of 2.42. The company has a market capitalization of $75.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $324.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $310.05. Aon plc has a one year low of $268.06 and a one year high of $352.49.

AON (NYSE:AON) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.08 by ($0.15). AON had a return on equity of 252.81% and a net margin of 18.00%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.76 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Aon plc will post 15.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

AON Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 1st were given a $0.675 dividend. This represents a $2.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 1st. AON’s payout ratio is currently 21.16%.

AON 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.