Centiva Capital LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Centiva Capital LP lowered its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 37.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,042 shares of the company’s stock after selling 623 shares during the period. Centiva Capital LP’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $326,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 25.1% in the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,242 shares of the company’s stock valued at $702,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at $3,322,000. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at $4,612,000. Chapman Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at $777,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 48,185 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,093,000 after acquiring an additional 10,976 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,986,996.09. The trade was a 4.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Shares of WTW stock opened at $309.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $30.64 billion, a P/E ratio of -309.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.72. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $248.09 and a 1-year high of $344.14. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $321.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $318.84.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.27 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue was down 5.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -736.00%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WTW. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $371.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Barclays lifted 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 note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $380.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $371.00 to $366.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $351.55.

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.