Headlands Technologies LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 1,020.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,085 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,631 shares during the quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $1,227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WTW. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 112.8% in the fourth quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 281.5% in the fourth quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $295.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $236.00 to $298.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Roth Mkm raised their target price on 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $307.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Piper Sandler increased their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $297.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $293.43.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction on 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

WTW stock opened at $250.95 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $269.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $251.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.45, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The stock has a market cap of $25.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.73. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 52-week low of $195.29 and a 52-week high of $278.86.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $3.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 10.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.84 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

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