Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Purchases 204,722 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company $WTW

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW) by 183.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 316,158 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 204,722 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $91,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTW. Dodge & Cox boosted its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 90.7% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 6,925,525 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,275,728,000 after purchasing an additional 3,293,334 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,505,195 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,151,808,000 after buying an additional 664,202 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,212,870 shares of the company’s stock worth $727,149,000 after buying an additional 57,162 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter worth $511,151,000. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA boosted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,357,601 shares of the company’s stock valued at $446,108,000 after buying an additional 268,536 shares in the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WTW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $374.00 to $382.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $338.00 to $361.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $347.00 to $300.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $322.00 to $344.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $351.80.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WTW opened at $295.11 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $269.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $286.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 2.92 and a quick ratio of 2.92. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company has a 1 year low of $240.61 and a 1 year high of $352.79. The firm has a market cap of $27.87 billion, a PE ratio of 17.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.43.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $3.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.07. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.52%. The company had revenue of $2.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.13 earnings per share. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company will post 19.53 EPS for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.96 dividend. This represents a $3.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is presently 22.39%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Willis Towers Watson Public news, insider Lucy Clarke purchased 1,896 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $263.37 per share, with a total value of $499,349.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider owned 22,717 shares in the company, valued at $5,982,976.29. This represents a 9.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Profile

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ: WTW) is a global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps organizations manage risk, optimize benefits and cultivate talent. The firm combines insurance brokerage and risk management capabilities with human capital and benefits consulting, actuarial and analytics services, and technology-enabled solutions. Willis Towers Watson serves a broad client base that includes multinational and mid-sized corporations, public sector organizations, insurers and investment managers.

The company’s core activities encompass commercial and reinsurance brokerage, risk transfer and risk-financing advice, and claims advocacy, alongside employee benefits and retirement consulting.