Legal & General Group Plc Sells 155,425 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 660,229 shares of the company’s stock after selling 155,425 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 0.66% of Willis Towers Watson Public worth $206,810,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,228,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,055,000 after acquiring an additional 285,497 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,304,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,682,939 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,153,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,484 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 7,321.4% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 102,786 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,197,000 after acquiring an additional 101,401 shares during the period. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at about $246,000. Institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Willis Towers Watson Public

In related news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 74,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,986,996.09. This represents a 4.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on WTW shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $387.00 price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $346.15.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of WTW stock opened at $314.81 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $327.21 and a 200-day moving average of $315.29. 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 Limited has a 12-month low of $245.04 and a 12-month high of $344.14. The company has a market capitalization of $31.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -314.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.68.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $7.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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 will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is an increase from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is currently -368.00%.

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.