Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Makes New Investment in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd purchased a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,299 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WTW. Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 121.1% in the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 126 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 95.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 174 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $72,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $344.00 to $395.00 in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $380.00 price objective (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Willis Towers Watson Public has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $346.15.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Willis Towers Watson Public stock opened at $334.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.98. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited has a 52-week low of $245.04 and a 52-week high of $344.14. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $325.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $311.48. The firm has a market cap of $33.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -334.51, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.71.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $8.01 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $7.44 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 17.32 EPS for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.92 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is currently -368.00%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.77, for a total value of $1,136,245.68. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 74,417 shares in the company, valued at $24,986,996.09. The trade was a 4.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

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.