Brokerages Set Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) Target Price at $342.08

Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $346.15.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WTW shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $357.00 to $373.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $380.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped 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. Finally, Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 price target (up from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity at Willis Towers Watson Public

In related news, insider Julie Jarecke Gebauer sold 3,384 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.22% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 95,880.2% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,569,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,298,000 after purchasing an additional 7,561,114 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 52.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,682,939 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,153,644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,484 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 77.5% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,788,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $873,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,217,714 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 0.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,629,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $772,027,000 after purchasing an additional 19,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 14.7% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,228,497 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,055,000 after purchasing an additional 285,497 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Down 0.1 %

NASDAQ WTW opened at $334.51 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $33.35 billion, a PE ratio of -334.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.71. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 1-year low of $245.04 and a 1-year high of $344.14. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $325.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.32. The company has a current ratio of 1.98, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.44 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.92 dividend. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -368.00%.

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.