Brandes Investment Partners LP Boosts Holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Brandes Investment Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 10.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 598,631 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,514 shares during the period. Willis Towers Watson Public comprises approximately 1.9% of Brandes Investment Partners LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $157,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at $330,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,647 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 6,162 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,486,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 5,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,248,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 71,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,174,000 after buying an additional 9,793 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTW has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $272.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. They set an “underweight” rating and a $278.00 price objective for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $320.00 to $323.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $318.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $298.73.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:WTW opened at $293.02 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 1-year low of $203.36 and a 1-year high of $296.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $284.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.74.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.27 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 16.97% and a net margin of 11.24%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.31%.

Willis Towers Watson Public 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.