Exane Derivatives purchased a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson PLC (NASDAQ:WLTW) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson by 146.3% during the first quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 12,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,895,000 after acquiring an additional 7,395 shares during the period. Aperio Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson by 8.1% during the first quarter. Aperio Group LLC now owns 28,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,326,000 after acquiring an additional 2,135 shares during the period. North Run Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson during the first quarter valued at $7,610,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson by 1.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 350,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,200,000 after acquiring an additional 3,734 shares during the period. Finally, Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson by 3.1% during the first quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 1,115,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $169,810,000 after acquiring an additional 33,460 shares during the period. 91.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Get Willis Towers Watson alerts:Willis Towers Watson opened at $159.62 on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. Willis Towers Watson PLC has a 1-year low of $142.67 and a 1-year high of $165.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.68, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.93.
Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WLTW) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $2.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.08. Willis Towers Watson had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 5.37%. The firm had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.71 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. research analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson PLC will post 9.62 EPS for the current year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 16th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, June 30th were paid a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 28th. Willis Towers Watson’s payout ratio is 28.20%.
WLTW has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Co set a $154.00 price target on Willis Towers Watson and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 7th. Citigroup cut their price target on Willis Towers Watson from $184.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 10th. Bank of America lowered Willis Towers Watson from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $163.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 26th. Sandler O’Neill raised Willis Towers Watson from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 13th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, ValuEngine lowered Willis Towers Watson from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $172.83.
About Willis Towers Watson
Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company operates as an advisory, broking, and solutions company worldwide. Its Human Capital and Benefits segment provides actuarial support, plan design, and administrative services for traditional pension and retirement savings plans; plan management consulting, broking, and administration services for health and group benefit programs; and benefits outsourcing services.
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