Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Given New $295.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) had its price objective hoisted by Evercore ISI from $290.00 to $295.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an in-line rating on the stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on WTW. Raymond James reissued an outperform rating and set a $315.00 price target (up previously from $295.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. 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. BMO Capital Markets raised Willis Towers Watson Public from an underperform rating to a market perform rating and raised their price target for the stock from $236.00 to $298.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $297.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $293.21.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

NASDAQ WTW opened at $252.43 on Friday. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 1-year low of $195.29 and a 1-year high of $278.86. The company has a market capitalization of $25.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $269.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $251.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 1.89 and a quick ratio of 1.89.

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

Willis Towers Watson Public Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Sunday, March 31st were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. This is a boost from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.31%.

Insider Activity at Willis Towers Watson Public

In other Willis Towers Watson Public news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.13, for a total transaction of $299,343.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 4,170 shares in the company, valued at $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,946,805 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,078,484,000 after acquiring an additional 98,719 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 5,568,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,343,062,000 after acquiring an additional 158,234 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,021,602 shares of the company’s stock worth $422,434,000 after acquiring an additional 25,794 shares during the last quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 72.4% during the third quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,555,667 shares of the company’s stock worth $325,072,000 after acquiring an additional 653,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 4,811.5% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,472,707 shares of the company’s stock worth $355,217,000 after acquiring an additional 1,442,722 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

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.