Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on WTW. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $365.00 to $345.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $366.00 to $379.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $387.00 to $356.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Evercore upped their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $383.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Willis Towers Watson Public presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $374.57.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Down 12.1%

Shares of NASDAQ WTW opened at $290.09 on Friday. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 12-month low of $283.60 and a 12-month high of $352.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $326.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $327.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The company has a market cap of $27.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.62.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The company reported $8.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.93 by $0.19. Willis Towers Watson Public had a net margin of 16.53% and a return on equity of 20.91%. The company had revenue of $2.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.87 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $8.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.47%.

Institutional Trading of Willis Towers Watson Public

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dodge & Cox grew its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 184.1% during the third quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,632,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,254,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353,768 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the second quarter worth $458,662,000. Soundwatch Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public during the second quarter worth $272,790,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 80.2% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,038,275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $318,231,000 after buying an additional 462,249 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS grew its holdings in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1,320.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 324,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,403,000 after buying an additional 301,493 shares during the period. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Willis Towers Watson Public

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ: WTW) is a global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps organizations manage risk, optimize benefits and cultivate talent. The firm combines insurance brokerage and risk management capabilities with human capital and benefits consulting, actuarial and analytics services, and technology-enabled solutions. Willis Towers Watson serves a broad client base that includes multinational and mid-sized corporations, public sector organizations, insurers and investment managers.

The company’s core activities encompass commercial and reinsurance brokerage, risk transfer and risk-financing advice, and claims advocacy, alongside employee benefits and retirement consulting.