Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW) Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW - Free Report) by 3.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 126,523 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 4,430 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of Willis Towers Watson Public worth $42,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WTW. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,682,939 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,153,644,000 after buying an additional 1,266,484 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 77.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,788,542 shares of the company's stock worth $873,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,714 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,228,497 shares of the company's stock valued at $698,055,000 after purchasing an additional 285,497 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA grew its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,836,748 shares of the company's stock valued at $575,343,000 after purchasing an additional 55,542 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter worth approximately $484,210,000. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on WTW. Jefferies Financial Group dropped 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 research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays lowered their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $316.00 to $305.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $371.00 to $366.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised Willis Towers Watson Public from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $355.20.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW traded down $1.34 during trading on Monday, hitting $305.30. 559,236 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 607,620. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.89. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $306.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $317.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $30.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -610.59, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.68. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company has a 12-month low of $255.19 and a 12-month high of $344.14.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.27 by ($0.14). Willis Towers Watson Public had a negative net margin of 0.54% and a positive return on equity of 20.53%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.13 EPS. The business's revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Willis Towers Watson Public's dividend payout ratio is presently -736.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.75, for a total value of $505,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 11,982 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,783,316.50. This represents a 11.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.