Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $8.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.01 by $0.12, Zacks reports. 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 $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.44 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Down 3.1 %

WTW stock opened at $320.31 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $317.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $300.73. Willis Towers Watson Public has a twelve month low of $245.04 and a twelve month high of $334.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.72 and a quick ratio of 1.72.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -48.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $378.00 to $387.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Raymond James raised Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $365.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Willis Towers Watson Public currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $333.64.

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.