Royal Bank of Canada Acquires 6,876 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 216,208 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,876 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned approximately 0.21% of Willis Towers Watson Public worth $67,726,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter valued at about $484,210,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 52.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,682,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,153,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,484 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 77.5% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,788,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,714 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 6,676.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 988,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,616,000 after purchasing an additional 973,843 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 6,286.4% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 862,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,284,000 after purchasing an additional 849,358 shares during the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WTW. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $371.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $371.00 to $366.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $302.00 to $316.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.55.

Insider Transactions at Willis Towers Watson Public

In other news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,986,996.09. This trade represents a 4.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.32% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW opened at $312.74 on Wednesday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a one year low of $248.09 and a one year high of $344.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The stock has a market cap of $31.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -312.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50 day moving average of $318.85 and a 200-day moving average of $319.36.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.27 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.29 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is -736.00%.

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.