Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Hits New 12-Month High at $297.70

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $297.70 and last traded at $296.93, with a volume of 24016 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $294.53.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WTW has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $320.00 to $323.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $318.00 to $321.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $310.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $272.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $298.73.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 2.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $30.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $285.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $269.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $2.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $2.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 11.24% and a return on equity of 16.97%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.05 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s payout ratio is 35.31%.

Institutional Trading of Willis Towers Watson Public

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public during the fourth quarter valued at about $107,010,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 520.3% in the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 417,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $114,765,000 after purchasing an additional 350,135 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,728,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $453,123,000 after purchasing an additional 261,562 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 22.5% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,006,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $263,904,000 after purchasing an additional 185,126 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 456.5% during the second quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 198,389 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,006,000 after buying an additional 162,741 shares in the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.