Bank of New York Mellon Corp Reduces Stock Holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lowered its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 48.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 598,378 shares of the company’s stock after selling 567,400 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $187,436,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WTW. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 86.6% during the 4th quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 29,088 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,112,000 after purchasing an additional 13,500 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC grew its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 120.0% during the fourth quarter. Paradigm Asset Management Co. LLC now owns 5,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,723,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,117 shares of the company’s stock valued at $350,000 after buying an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 31,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,789,000 after acquiring an additional 11,784 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

WTW opened at $335.29 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.77 billion, a PE ratio of -335.29, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a twelve month low of $245.04 and a twelve month high of $339.12. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $320.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $306.53.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is currently -368.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on WTW. Evercore ISI upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $278.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Raymond James upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price target (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $380.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $342.08.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

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.