Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) Shares Sold by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd lowered its position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 44.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,660 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,472 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $1,779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 6,247 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Williamson Legacy Group LLC lifted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. Williamson Legacy Group LLC now owns 4,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,402 shares during the period. Finally, Anchor Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at about $207,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total transaction of $1,136,245.68. Following the sale, the insider now owns 74,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,986,996.09. This trade represents a 4.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WTW. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Raymond James raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $352.00 to $382.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $278.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $342.08.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of WTW opened at $340.36 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $307.81. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $245.04 and a 1-year high of $342.17. The stock has a market cap of $33.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -340.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.74.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12. Willis Towers Watson Public had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.02%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -368.00%.

Willis Towers Watson Public Company 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.