Victory Capital Management Inc. Buys 1,442,722 Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 4,811.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,472,707 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,442,722 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $355,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 15,476 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,234,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 602,641 shares of the company’s stock valued at $126,435,000 after purchasing an additional 31,520 shares during the last quarter. James Hambro & Partners acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $401,000. Arlington Trust Co LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $73,000. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 5,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,071,000 after acquiring an additional 681 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Willis Towers Watson Public news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.13, for a total transaction of $299,343.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,134,782.10. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW traded up $3.37 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $254.51. The stock had a trading volume of 166,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 465,157. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 12 month low of $195.29 and a 12 month high of $278.86. The company has a quick ratio of 1.89, a current ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $268.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $252.24. The company has a market cap of $26.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.73.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.08. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 10.88% and a return on equity of 16.31%. The business had revenue of $2.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.38%. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is 35.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $236.00 to $298.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $320.00 to $318.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $297.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $248.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $293.21.

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.