Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company $WTW Shares Acquired by R Squared Ltd

R Squared Ltd lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW) by 33.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,464 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 364 shares during the quarter. R Squared Ltd’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 35.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 124.2% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,941 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after purchasing an additional 2,737 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 22.6% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,768,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,031,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC raised its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 33.9% in the 1st quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 9,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 2,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WTW. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $355.00 target price for the company. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $351.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $366.00 to $372.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Willis Towers Watson Public presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $369.42.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ WTW opened at $328.34 on Friday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company has a 12 month low of $289.12 and a 12 month high of $352.79. The company has a 50-day moving average of $335.66 and a 200-day moving average of $319.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The company has a market cap of $32.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 224.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.73.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.23 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 21.60% and a net margin of 1.40%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is 252.05%.

Willis Towers Watson Public announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Willis Towers Watson Public Profile

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.