Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 155,129 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,216 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.15% of Willis Towers Watson Public worth $48,593,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WTW. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $262,000. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 16,578 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,883,000 after buying an additional 1,707 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 71.7% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,644 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 11,926 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,513,000 after purchasing an additional 967 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WTW. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $352.00 to $382.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target (up from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $278.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $380.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Willis Towers Watson Public currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $342.08.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

NASDAQ WTW opened at $324.61 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $323.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $310.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 12-month low of $245.04 and a 12-month high of $344.14. The firm has a market cap of $32.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -324.61, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.71.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.01 by $0.12. Willis Towers Watson Public had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.02%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $7.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is presently -368.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Willis Towers Watson Public

In other news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total transaction of $1,136,245.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,986,996.09. This represents a 4.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company operates as an advisory, broking, and solutions company worldwide. It operates through two segments: Health, Wealth & Career and Risk & Broking. The company offers strategy and design consulting, plan management service and support, broking and administration services for health, wellbeing, and other group benefit program, including medical, dental, disability, life, voluntary benefits and other coverages; actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for pension and retirement savings plans; retirement consulting services and solutions; and integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services.