Allstate Corp Purchases New Stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Allstate Corp bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,219 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,008,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WTW. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc. now owns 42,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,271,000 after buying an additional 9,151 shares in the last quarter. DnB Asset Management AS grew its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 18,534 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,806,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 22.5% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 9,659 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 21.2% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 81,835 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,634,000 after acquiring an additional 14,299 shares during the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total transaction of $1,136,245.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,986,996.09. This represents a 4.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WTW. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Raymond James raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $365.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Evercore ISI upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Willis Towers Watson Public has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $346.15.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WTW opened at $337.16 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.61 billion, a PE ratio of -337.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.71. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a fifty-two week low of $245.04 and a fifty-two week high of $344.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $328.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $313.67.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.02%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $7.44 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is presently -368.00%.

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.