Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Increases Stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 86.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,088 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 13,500 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $9,112,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 11.4% during the third quarter. Timber Creek Capital Management LLC now owns 19,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,625,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 71.7% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,957,000 after purchasing an additional 2,775 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 28.3% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 104,414 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,753,000 after purchasing an additional 23,001 shares during the last quarter. Atom Investors LP lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 64.0% during the third quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 8,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,360,000 after purchasing an additional 3,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 24.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 187,267 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,156,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WTW shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $278.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $365.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $342.08.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Willis Towers Watson Public stock opened at $325.95 on Monday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 12 month low of $245.04 and a 12 month high of $334.99. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $318.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $305.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.83 billion, a PE ratio of -325.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.74.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.01 by $0.12. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $7.44 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is -352.00%.

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.