Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on the stock from $352.00 to $359.00. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Willis Towers Watson Public traded as high as $318.76 and last traded at $318.42, with a volume of 5220 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $307.92.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on WTW. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $334.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $315.00 to $345.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $335.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $295.00 to $314.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $312.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 95,880.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,569,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,229,298,000 after purchasing an additional 7,561,114 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 520.3% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 417,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $114,765,000 after purchasing an additional 350,135 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 17.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,728,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $453,123,000 after purchasing an additional 261,562 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position 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 position 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 valued at $52,006,000 after purchasing an additional 162,741 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Up 3.0 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $293.26 and a 200-day moving average of $274.26. The stock has a market cap of $31.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.59, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $0.25. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 18.57% and a negative net margin of 7.36%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.28 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.24 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public Limited will post 16.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is currently -48.35%.

Willis Towers Watson Public Company 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.