PGGM Investments Sells 588 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

PGGM Investments trimmed its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 3.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,080 shares of the company’s stock after selling 588 shares during the quarter. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $4,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,568,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,343,062,000 after acquiring an additional 158,234 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 4,811.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,472,707 shares of the company’s stock valued at $355,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442,722 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,466,992 shares of the company’s stock worth $403,423,000 after purchasing an additional 32,792 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter worth approximately $300,782,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 659,964 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,177,000 after buying an additional 23,805 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WTW shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $318.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $272.00 to $304.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 22nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $320.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $272.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $315.00 to $312.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 29th. Seven investment 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, Willis Towers Watson Public has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $300.21.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WTW traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $280.38. The stock had a trading volume of 65,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 448,702. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a twelve month low of $195.29 and a twelve month high of $286.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 1.94. The stock has a market cap of $28.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $266.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $264.75.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.27 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 11.24%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, June 30th were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. 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.