Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 122,093 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,180 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $38,244,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 121.1% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 126 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the third quarter worth about $41,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 95.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 174 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 22.2% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 237 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $357.00 to $373.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $382.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $342.08.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock opened at $325.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $32.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -325.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.74. The company’s 50 day moving average is $318.31 and its 200 day moving average is $304.58. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a twelve month low of $245.04 and a twelve month high of $334.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.44 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.31 EPS for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.08%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -352.00%.

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.