Prana Capital Management LP Reduces Stock Position in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Prana Capital Management LP lowered its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) by 65.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,598 shares of the company’s stock after selling 296,873 shares during the quarter. Willis Towers Watson Public accounts for 2.4% of Prana Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Prana Capital Management LP’s holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public were worth $49,679,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public during the 4th quarter valued at $484,210,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 52.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,682,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,153,644,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,484 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 77.5% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,788,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $873,483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,217,714 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 6,676.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 988,430 shares of the company’s stock valued at $309,616,000 after buying an additional 973,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 6,286.4% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 862,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $270,284,000 after buying an additional 849,358 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total transaction of $1,136,245.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 74,417 shares in the company, valued at $24,986,996.09. This trade represents a 4.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.32% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WTW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group raised Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $302.00 to $316.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $371.00 to $366.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $371.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $351.55.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

NASDAQ:WTW opened at $303.37 on Thursday. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a one year low of $248.09 and a one year 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 stock has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a PE ratio of -303.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.73. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $319.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $318.75.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $3.13 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.27 by ($0.14). Willis Towers Watson Public had a negative net margin of 0.99% and a positive return on equity of 20.02%. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.29 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.13 EPS. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.92 per share. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -736.00%.

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.