Reviewing Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) & Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW)

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) and Investors Title (NASDAQ:ITIC) are both finance companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, valuation, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Willis Towers Watson Public and Investors Title, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Willis Towers Watson Public	0	7	10	1	2.67
Investors Title	0	0	1	0	3.00

Willis Towers Watson Public currently has a consensus target price of $369.38, indicating a potential upside of 10.35%. Given Willis Towers Watson Public’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Willis Towers Watson Public is more favorable than Investors Title.

Risk & Volatility

Willis Towers Watson Public has a beta of 0.41, meaning that its share price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Investors Title has a beta of 0.61, meaning that its share price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Willis Towers Watson Public pays an annual dividend of $3.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Investors Title pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Willis Towers Watson Public pays out 23.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Investors Title pays out 8.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Willis Towers Watson Public has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Willis Towers Watson Public is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Profitability

This table compares Willis Towers Watson Public and Investors Title’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Willis Towers Watson Public	15.49%	22.19%	6.00%
Investors Title	13.80%	14.62%	11.02%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

93.1% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 41.4% of Investors Title shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.4% of Willis Towers Watson Public shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.0% of Investors Title shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Willis Towers Watson Public and Investors Title”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Willis Towers Watson Public	$10.10 billion	3.08	$1.60 billion	$16.26	20.59
Investors Title	$293.47 million	1.92	$35.18 million	$21.35	13.96

Willis Towers Watson Public has higher revenue and earnings than Investors Title. Investors Title is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Willis Towers Watson Public, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Willis Towers Watson Public beats Investors Title on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

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. It also provides advice, data, software, and products to address clients' total rewards and talent issues; and risk advice, insurance brokerage, and consulting services in the areas of property and casualty, affinity, risk and analytics, aerospace, construction, global markets direct & facultative, financial, executive and professional risks, financial solutions, crisis management, surety, marine, and natural resources. In addition, the company offers integrated solutions that consists of investment discretionary management, pension administration, core actuarial, and communication and change management assistance services; and software and technology, risk and capital management, products and product pricing, financial and regulatory reporting, financial and capital modeling, M&A, outsourcing, and business management services. The company was formerly known as Willis Group Holdings Public Limited Company and changed its name to Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company in January 2016. Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company was founded in 1828 and is based in London, the United Kingdom.

About Investors Title

Investors Title Company engages in the issuance of residential and commercial title insurance for residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial properties. The company underwrites land title insurance for owners and mortgagees as a primary insurer; and assumes the reinsurance of title insurance risks from other title insurance companies. It offers services in connection with tax-deferred exchanges of like-kind property; acts as a qualified intermediary in tax-deferred exchanges of property; coordinates the exchange aspects of the real estate transaction, such as drafting standard exchange documents, holding the exchange funds between the sale of the old property and the purchase of the new property, and accepting the formal identification of the replacement property. In addition, it serves as an exchange accommodation titleholder for accomplishing reverse exchanges when the taxpayers decide to acquire replacement property before selling the relinquished property. Further, the company offers investment management and trust services to individuals, companies, banks, and trusts; and consulting and management services to clients to start and operate a title insurance agency. It issues title insurance policies directly and through a network of agents in 22 states and the District of Columbia, primarily in the eastern half of the United States. Investors Title Company was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.