California Public Employees Retirement System Cuts Stock Position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

California Public Employees Retirement System cut its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 540,793 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,957 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.52% of Willis Towers Watson Public worth $130,439,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WTW. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,946,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,078,484,000 after purchasing an additional 98,719 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 9.0% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,410,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,477,000 after acquiring an additional 445,775 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,021,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,434,000 after acquiring an additional 25,794 shares during the period. Baupost Group LLC MA lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 72.4% in the third quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,555,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,072,000 after acquiring an additional 653,300 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,197,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,329,000 after acquiring an additional 25,522 shares during the period. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.13, for a total transaction of $299,343.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WTW. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $236.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $307.00 to $317.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating and set a $315.00 price objective (up previously from $295.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $290.54.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW opened at $263.68 on Wednesday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a twelve month low of $195.29 and a twelve month high of $278.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $271.11 and its 200 day moving average is $250.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 1.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $26.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.73.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $7.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $7.05 by $0.39. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 11.12% and a return on equity of 15.70%. The company had revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.91 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $6.33 EPS. Willis Towers Watson Public’s quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.2 EPS for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.13%.

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.