Short Interest in Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) Grows By 38.2%

Willis Towers Watson Public Limited (NASDAQ:WTW) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,410,000 shares, a growth of 38.2% from the December 15th total of 1,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 670,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Willis Towers Watson Public Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WTW opened at $313.35 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $314.80 and a 200 day moving average of $294.77. 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 has a 52 week low of $242.54 and a 52 week high of $334.99.

Willis Towers Watson Public (NASDAQ:WTW) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The company reported $2.93 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $2.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.28 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.24 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Willis Towers Watson Public will post 16.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Willis Towers Watson Public Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. Willis Towers Watson Public’s dividend payout ratio is currently -48.35%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 95,880.2% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,569,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,229,298,000 after acquiring an additional 7,561,114 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Willis Towers Watson Public by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,629,439 shares of the company’s stock worth $772,027,000 after purchasing an additional 19,623 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,416,455 shares of the company’s stock worth $711,718,000 after buying an additional 48,384 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Willis Towers Watson Public by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,002,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $589,698,000 after buying an additional 10,856 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baupost Group LLC MA raised its stake in Willis Towers Watson Public by 7.8% in the third quarter. Baupost Group LLC MA now owns 1,781,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $524,619,000 after buying an additional 128,558 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WTW shares. Evercore ISI upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $357.00 to $373.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. UBS Group upgraded Willis Towers Watson Public to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $380.00 to $345.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $382.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Willis Towers Watson Public from $315.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Willis Towers Watson Public 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.