Sterling Capital Management LLC Purchases 2,095 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 51.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,161 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,095 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $1,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WTW. FMR LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,153,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,484 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,228,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,055,000 after acquiring an additional 285,497 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter valued at about $484,210,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 6,676.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 988,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,616,000 after acquiring an additional 973,843 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 604,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $189,412,000 after purchasing an additional 12,162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $371.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. UBS Group raised Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $302.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $387.00 price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Willis Towers Watson Public presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $346.38.

Insider Activity at Willis Towers Watson Public

In related news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total value of $1,136,245.68. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of WTW opened at $321.74 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $326.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $315.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $32.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -321.74, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.68. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 52 week low of $245.04 and a 52 week high of $344.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.98.

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 the consensus estimate of $8.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $7.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. 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. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is -368.00%.

Willis Towers Watson Public Company 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.