AON (NYSE:AON) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.20 EPS

AON (NYSE:AON) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The financial services provider reported $5.66 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.86 by ($0.20), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $4.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.14 billion. AON had a net margin of 19.17% and a negative return on equity of 1,150.40%. The business’s revenue was up 5.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.17 EPS.

AON Stock Down 6.9 %

AON traded down $20.97 during trading on Friday, hitting $285.03. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,566,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 882,672. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $317.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $314.14. AON has a 12 month low of $268.06 and a 12 month high of $347.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.86.

AON Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.675 dividend. This is an increase from AON’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $2.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.95%. AON’s payout ratio is presently 19.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at AON

In other AON news, CFO Christa Davies sold 20,618 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.40, for a total value of $6,420,445.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 159,570 shares in the company, valued at approximately $49,690,098. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Christa Davies sold 20,618 shares of AON stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $311.40, for a total value of $6,420,445.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 159,570 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $49,690,098. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Lester B. Knight bought 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $301.97 per share, with a total value of $15,098,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 134,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,463,980. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 74,532 shares of company stock worth $23,335,805. 1.15% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AON has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen started coverage on AON in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $390.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on AON from $318.00 to $353.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on AON from $294.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on AON from $350.00 to $310.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on AON from $325.00 to $327.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $334.69.

About AON

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.