First Trust Advisors LP Has $3.37 Million Stock Position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW - Free Report) by 337.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,766 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 8,307 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $3,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 12.7% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 337 shares of the company's stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 1,197 shares of the company's stock worth $375,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 2,013 shares of the company's stock worth $631,000 after buying an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 520 shares of the company's stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the company's stock valued at $350,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WTW shares. 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 on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $302.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $371.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Willis Towers Watson Public has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $351.55.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 1.9 %

WTW opened at $312.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $324.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $318.05. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $248.09 and a 1-year high of $344.14. The stock has a market cap of $30.94 billion, a PE ratio of -312.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.68.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.27 by ($0.14). Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -736.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total value of $1,136,245.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 74,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,986,996.09. The trade was a 4.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.32% 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.

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