Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Lifted to “Neutral” at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $304.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $272.00.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on WTW. Raymond James restated 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. Truist Financial upped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $290.00 to $295.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $317.00 to $311.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 6th. Finally, Roth Mkm upped their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Seven investment 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, Willis Towers Watson Public presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $296.14.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Up 0.3 %

Willis Towers Watson Public stock opened at $253.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $25.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.75. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 1-year low of $195.29 and a 1-year high of $278.86. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $261.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $255.93. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

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

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.31%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 4,170 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Willis Towers Watson Public

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,950,000. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,939,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,512,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,000. 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.