Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.92 Per Share

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.92 per share on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $3.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.12%. This is a positive change from Willis Towers Watson Public’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

Willis Towers Watson Public has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.2% annually over the last three years. Willis Towers Watson Public has a dividend payout ratio of 18.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Willis Towers Watson Public to earn $19.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.1%.

Willis Towers Watson Public Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WTW stock opened at $328.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $305.72. Willis Towers Watson Public has a 52-week low of $245.04 and a 52-week high of $334.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.06 billion, a PE ratio of -328.20, a PEG ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 1.72 and a current ratio of 1.98.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $8.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $8.01 by $0.12. Willis Towers Watson Public had a positive return on equity of 20.02% and a negative net margin of 0.99%. The business had revenue of $3.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 17.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on WTW shares. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $357.00 to $373.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Raymond James upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $365.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Truist Financial reissued 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 report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Willis Towers Watson Public from $380.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $342.08.

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.