Raymond James Reiterates Outperform Rating for Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW)

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by equities researchers at Raymond James in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $315.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $295.00. Raymond James’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.25% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on WTW. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $275.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Citigroup raised Willis Towers Watson Public from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Willis Towers Watson Public from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note 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 objective for the company from $236.00 to $298.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, February 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $288.54.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW traded down $0.21 during trading on Thursday, hitting $275.71. 210,220 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 458,505. The company has a market cap of $28.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.54, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 1.45. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 52-week low of $195.29 and a 52-week high of $278.86.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $7.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $7.05 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $2.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.91 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 15.70% and a net margin of 11.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $6.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 16.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Andrew Jay Krasner sold 1,100 shares of Willis Towers Watson Public 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 directly owns 4,170 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,134,782.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.83% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public during the 3rd quarter worth $502,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 259,505 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,226,000 after purchasing an additional 18,657 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 1,736.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 56,465 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,619,000 after purchasing an additional 53,391 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,946,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,078,484,000 after purchasing an additional 98,719 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,771 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,872,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. 93.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.