Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have given Willis Towers Watson Public a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”, with 9 buy ratings, 2 strong buys, and 6 holds across 17 firms. The average 1-year price target is $352.
• The company reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, with EPS of $3.72 beating estimates by $0.07, while revenue came in at $2.41 billion, matching forecasts. Revenue also rose 8.5% year over year.
• Willis Towers Watson recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.96 per share from $0.92, for an annualized dividend of $3.84 and a yield of about 1.5%.

Shares of Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:WTW - Get Free Report) have received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $352.00.

WTW has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial raised Willis Towers Watson Public to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $353.00 to $338.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $330.00 to $320.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $354.00 to $347.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Lucy Clarke acquired 1,896 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $263.37 per share, with a total value of $499,349.52. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 22,717 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,982,976.29. This represents a 9.11% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Willis Towers Watson Public

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 375.0% in the fourth quarter. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC now owns 76 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 72.5% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 88 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Down 2.6%

Shares of NASDAQ WTW opened at $249.72 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 2.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $23.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.56, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.45. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 12 month low of $246.60 and a 12 month high of $352.79. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $287.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $308.49.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 1st. The company reported $3.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.07. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 21.52% and a net margin of 16.84%.The firm had revenue of $2.41 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.13 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 19.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were paid a $0.96 dividend. This is an increase from Willis Towers Watson Public's previous quarterly dividend of $0.92. This represents a $3.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public's payout ratio is currently 22.39%.

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.

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