Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) Receives $342.08 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $342.08.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WTW shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $278.00 to $302.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $365.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, December 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Willis Towers Watson Public

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

Institutional Trading of Willis Towers Watson Public

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter worth $10,566,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 380.9% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 5,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,750,000 after buying an additional 4,182 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter worth $62,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter worth $25,485,000. Finally, Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 4th quarter worth $510,000. Institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of WTW opened at $324.61 on Thursday. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 52-week low of $245.04 and a 52-week high of $344.14. The company has a market capitalization of $32.36 billion, a PE ratio of -324.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $323.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $310.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.72, a current ratio of 1.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $7.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.13%. 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%.

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.