Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Raised to Strong-Buy at Mizuho

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) was upgraded by equities researchers at Mizuho to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on WTW. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Willis Towers Watson Public from $387.00 to $356.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 31st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $395.00 to $398.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $408.00 to $391.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, November 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $373.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.23.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

WTW opened at $329.76 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $324.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $321.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.57 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.63. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 52 week low of $292.97 and a 52 week high of $352.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 1.69 and a current ratio of 1.69.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported $3.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.05 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. Willis Towers Watson Public had a return on equity of 21.46% and a net margin of 21.58%.The firm’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.93 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 17.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 18th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 4.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,372,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,928,792,000 after acquiring an additional 103,784 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,238,308 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,912,041,000 after purchasing an additional 146,104 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 184.1% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 3,632,191 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,254,740,000 after purchasing an additional 2,353,768 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 1.8% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,579,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,096,994,000 after buying an additional 62,570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,856,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $965,334,000 after acquiring an additional 67,898 shares during the period. 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.