D.A. Davidson & CO. Grows Stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company $WTW

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW) by 76.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,392 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,036 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $733,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WTW. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 1,368 shares of the company’s stock worth $429,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.2% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 2,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $859,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 35.6% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 1,208 shares of the company’s stock worth $408,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares during the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the first quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 13.1% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 11,672 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WTW shares. Wolfe Research raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up previously from $380.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $369.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $335.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $395.00 to $398.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Willis Towers Watson Public currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $369.42.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW opened at $320.37 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 219.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.73. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company has a 52 week low of $291.17 and a 52 week high of $352.79. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $335.30 and a 200 day moving average of $319.56.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported $2.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.65 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.23 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 1.40% and a return on equity of 21.60%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is 252.05%.

Willis Towers Watson Public declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.