Piper Sandler Boosts Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Price Target to $303.00

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) had its price objective upped by Piper Sandler from $297.00 to $303.00 in a research note released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on WTW. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. They set an outperform rating and a $316.00 price objective on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $307.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Citigroup upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a neutral rating to a buy rating and raised their price target for the stock from $236.00 to $315.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Roth Mkm raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $293.43.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Down 2.3 %

WTW stock opened at $250.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.17, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.73. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $269.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $251.68. Willis Towers Watson Public has a fifty-two week low of $195.29 and a fifty-two week high of $278.86.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $3.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.21 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $2.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 16.31% and a net margin of 10.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.84 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 16.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.40%. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.13, for a total value of $299,343.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 4,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,134,782.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.22% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Willis Towers Watson Public

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 4,811.5% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,472,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442,722 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter worth approximately $300,782,000. Baupost Group LLC MA increased its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 72.4% in the third quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,555,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,072,000 after purchasing an additional 653,300 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 9.0% in the third quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,410,018 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,130,477,000 after purchasing an additional 445,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter worth approximately $107,010,000. 93.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.