Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp raised its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 44,389 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 881 shares during the quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $10,707,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,946,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,078,484,000 after acquiring an additional 98,719 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 9.0% during the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,410,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,477,000 after purchasing an additional 445,775 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,021,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $422,434,000 after acquiring an additional 25,794 shares in the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA increased its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 72.4% in the third quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,555,667 shares of the company’s stock valued at $325,072,000 after buying an additional 653,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,197,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,329,000 after purchasing an additional 25,522 shares during the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Willis Towers Watson Public

In related news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTW has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $236.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $298.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $316.00 target price for the company. Truist Financial lifted their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $248.00 to $270.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.54.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW traded down $13.55 during trading on Thursday, reaching $250.93. The stock had a trading volume of 59,885 shares, compared to its average volume of 446,537. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $195.29 and a 1-year high of $278.86. The stock has a market cap of $25.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a current ratio of 1.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $270.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $250.76.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $3.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.22 by $0.07. The firm 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 15.70% and a net margin of 11.12%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.13%.

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.