Alliancebernstein L.P. Lowers Stock Position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW - Free Report) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 578,861 shares of the company's stock after selling 67,136 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned 0.57% of Willis Towers Watson Public worth $181,322,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 121.1% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 126 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at $49,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 95.5% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 174 shares of the company's stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public during the fourth quarter valued at $72,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at $76,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WTW shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. UBS Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $346.15.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

WTW traded down $5.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $332.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 783,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 544,622. The company has a market cap of $33.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -332.41, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.71. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $329.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $314.62. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1 year low of $245.04 and a 1 year high of $344.14. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during 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 business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Willis Towers Watson Public's dividend payout ratio is currently -368.00%.

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.