Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $5.13 Million Stock Position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,274 shares of the company’s stock after selling 519 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $5,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WTW. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Covington Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Money Concepts Capital Corp acquired a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WTW. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $236.00 to $298.00 in a report on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial raised their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up from $295.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $320.00 to $318.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $290.54.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ WTW opened at $264.52 on Friday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $195.29 and a 1-year high of $278.86. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $271.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $249.30. The company has a market cap of $27.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.73.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $7.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.05 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 15.70% and a net margin of 11.12%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $6.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is currently 35.13%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

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.