Nomura Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 3,321 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,040,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,266,484 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 77.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,788,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $873,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,714 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,228,497 shares of the company’s stock valued at $698,055,000 after purchasing an additional 285,497 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA increased its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,836,748 shares of the company’s stock valued at $575,343,000 after purchasing an additional 55,542 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $484,210,000. Institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

NASDAQ WTW opened at $311.93 on Monday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 12 month low of $248.09 and a 12 month high of $344.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 1.98 and a quick ratio of 1.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.93 billion, a PE ratio of -311.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $319.31.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $3.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.27 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -736.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $371.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $371.00 to $366.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $302.00 to $316.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $351.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Willis Towers Watson Public news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total value of $1,136,245.68. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 74,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,986,996.09. The trade was a 4.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.