Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) Short Interest Down 19.1% in January

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) saw a large decline in short interest in January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,140,000 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the December 31st total of 1,410,000 shares. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 664,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WTW shares. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $380.00 target price (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group raised Willis Towers Watson Public to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $352.00 to $382.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $357.00 to $373.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.64.

Willis Towers Watson Public Price Performance

Shares of WTW opened at $329.57 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.72. Willis Towers Watson Public has a fifty-two week low of $242.54 and a fifty-two week high of $334.99. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $317.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.05. The company has a market capitalization of $33.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.74.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.25. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 18.57% and a negative net margin of 7.36%. The company had revenue of $2.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.28 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 16.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -48.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Willis Towers Watson Public

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in Willis Towers Watson Public by 95,880.2% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,569,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,229,298,000 after purchasing an additional 7,561,114 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 277.8% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 844,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $248,706,000 after buying an additional 620,926 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 47,515.7% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 499,965 shares of the company’s stock valued at $147,255,000 after buying an additional 498,915 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP purchased a new stake in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,883,000. Finally, Cidel Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Willis Towers Watson Public in the fourth quarter worth $42,964,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.