Retirement Systems of Alabama Reduces Stock Holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,758 shares of the company’s stock after selling 945 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $5,489,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $502,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $265,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 7.7% in the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 259,505 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,226,000 after purchasing an additional 18,657 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 1,736.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 56,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,619,000 after buying an additional 53,391 shares during the period. Finally, Seed Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter valued at about $204,000. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WTW shares. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $315.00 to $312.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $297.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $236.00 to $298.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 price target (up previously from $295.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $296.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.13, for a total value of $299,343.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,170 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of WTW stock opened at $251.99 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $267.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.89. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $195.29 and a 1-year high of $278.86. The company has a market cap of $25.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.75.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.08. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st were paid a $0.88 dividend. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.40%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.31%.

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.