Willis Towers Watson Public Limited Company (NASDAQ: WTW) stock fell -3.71% on Tuesday to $221.41 against a previous-day closing price of $229.95. With 0.56 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.54 million shares. During the session, the Insurance Brokers company that operates in wider Financial sector, reached to the highest price of $231.26 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $220.40. The 52-week range on WTW shows that it touched its highest point at $258.93 and its lowest point at $187.89 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $265.13. With its current market cap of 23.34 billion, WTW has annualized dividend of $3.36 while the current yield stands at 1.52%. Beta for the stock currently stands at 0.76.
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Price Performance and Earnings:
Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of WTW was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -2.63%, but this was down by -7.85% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -6.40% while six-month performance fell -4.86%. The stock gained 11.55% in the past year, while it has lost -9.47% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for WTW yields 10.42 with Next year EPS estimates of 17.01. For the next quarter, that number is 2.33. This implies an EPS growth rate of -43.60% for this year and 18.29% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 16.77% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 14.80%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 107.00 million WTW shares are outstanding with a float of 105.76 million shares on hand for trading. On Apr 27, 2023, short shares totaled 0.84 million, which was 0.79% higher than short shares on Mar 30, 2023. In addition to Mr. Carl A. Hess CERA, F.S.A. as the firm’s CEO & Director, Mr. Andrew Jay Krasner serves as its Chief Financial Officer.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 97.91% of WTW’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 56.76% of WTW, in contrast to 41.45% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 3.19%. As the largest shareholder in WTW with 11.07% of the stake, The Vanguard Group, Inc. holds 11,797,359 shares worth 11,797,359. A second-largest stockholder of WTW, Massachusetts Financial Services, holds 8,110,326 shares, controlling over 7.61% of the firm’s shares. BlackRock Fund Advisors is the third largest shareholder in WTW, holding 5,715,902 shares or 5.36% stake. With a 3.15% stake in WTW, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 3,353,505 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Artisan International Value Fund, which owns about 2.88% of WTW stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 3,071,269 shares valued at 711.31 million. First Eagle Global Fund holds 2.40% of the stake in WTW, owning 2,553,725 shares worth 591.44 million.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for WTW since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With WTW analysts setting a high price target of $302.00 and a low target of $230.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $261.65. Based on these targets, WTW could surge 36.4% to reach the target high and rise by 3.88% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 18.17% from current levels.
EPS: Estimates vs Actual
It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.
Dividends & Yield:
In terms of dividends, WTW has a current ratio of $3.36, which is $3.36 over the trailing 12-months, while a dividend of $2.76 is likely to be paid on average over the next five years. Dividend yield is another indicator that appeals to many investors, and WTW currently yields $1.49. In the past year, WTW’s dividend yield has been $1.49, but when looking at the stock over the past five years, its yield has been $1.37. Accordingly, WTW has a current buyback yield of $5.85. This was $5.85 for the TTM, and it was $5.53 for the past five years.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded WTW stock several times over the past three months with 47 Buys and 22 Sells. In these transactions, 33,797 shares were bought while 20,259 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 89 while that of sell transactions has risen to 75 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 156,331 while 152,048 shares were sold.
