Magnetar Financial LLC Sells 5,565 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Magnetar Financial LLC cut its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 34.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,653 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,565 shares during the period. Magnetar Financial LLC’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $2,930,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of WTW. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the first quarter valued at $28,000. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 168.8% during the fourth quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 129 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Glassman Wealth Services bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Heritage Wealth Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 44.3% during the 1st quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 241 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WTW has been the subject of several research reports. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $297.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Roth Mkm raised their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $318.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $317.00 to $311.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $299.36.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

Shares of WTW traded up $5.49 on Friday, reaching $283.09. 713,853 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 369,582. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $259.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $262.02. The stock has a market cap of $28.94 billion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.73. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 52-week low of $195.29 and a 52-week high of $283.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 11.24%. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.05 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th were paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is 35.31%.

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.