Willis Towers Watson
Willis Towers Watson's revenue fell 2.2% to $9.7 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 23.0%, up from 6.3% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $1.5 billion, up 22.0%. It paid out $2.0 billion in dividends and buybacks, 130% of free cash flow. The diluted share count fell 2.9%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
What Willis Towers Watson does
WTW (Willis Towers Watson) is an advisory and insurance broking firm that helps companies manage people, risk and capital. It has about 47,000 employees, which it calls colleagues, serving clients in more than 140 countries and markets. Its clients range from large multinationals to mid-sized companies, government agencies and not-for-profit groups, and no single client was more than 10% of revenue.
It reports two segments. Health, Wealth & Career, its larger segment by revenue, gives advice, broking and technology for employee benefit plans, investors, pay and career programs and the employee experience, including a private Medicare marketplace in the U.S. Risk & Broking helps clients assess and control risk and acts as an insurance broker: it is the go-between for clients and insurance companies, advising on risk and placing coverage with carriers through its global network.
WTW says it is not an insurance company and does not take on insurance risk for its own account. It places insurance with approximately 2,500 insurance carriers, and says none of them accounted for a significant share of the premiums it placed. It competes with other insurance brokers and with firms in human capital consulting.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- Its results depend on a strategy that may not work as planned, and on whether demand for its services holds up.
- Heavy dependence on the insurance industry, and on good relations with insurance companies.
- Losing key employees, which could also cost it client relationships.
- Data breaches or improper release of confidential company or personal data.
- Claims and lawsuits over its work, and investigations by regulators.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2016 to 2025, earnings per share grew 20.5% a year and net income 16.1% a year, as buybacks cut the share count by 28%.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value Willis Towers Watson yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from Willis Towers Watson's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Willis Towers Watson's fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $1.5B, net cash of −$6.5B at December 31, 2025 and 99 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to Willis Towers Watson: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 3.1% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 8%: 7% for a stable business (Insurance Brokers), plus 1 point for unsteady results (a loss in fiscal 2024); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $324.67
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Willis Towers Watson's earnings per share of $16.16 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 20.1×, the middle of Willis Towers Watson's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (Willis Towers Watson's own P/E today) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 9%, 8% and 7%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $324.67
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- Willis Towers Watson's P/E at the last close
- 20.1×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arthur J. GallagherAJG | $266.79 | $6.03 | 44.2× |
| Brown & BrownBRO | $71.08 | $3.16 | 22.5× |
| Willis Towers WatsonWTW | $324.67 | $16.16 | 20.1× |
| AonAON | $302.06 | $18.13 | 16.7× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 4,686 | 1,262 | 1,424 | 1,890 | 3,157 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 6,655 | 6,772 | 7,447 | 8,618 | 9,687 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | 1,969 | 5,510 | 6,023 | 6,728 | 6,530 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 0.7x | 3.2x | 3.2x | 6.2x | 2.5x |
| Debt to equity | 0.5x | 0.7x | 0.8x | 1.1x | 1.2x |
| Interest coverage | 10.4x | 5.7x | 5.8x | 2.4x | 8.6x |
| Current ratio | 1.3x | 1.1x | 1.1x | 1.2x | 1.2x |
| Quick ratio | 1.3x | 1.1x | 1.1x | 1.2x | 1.2x |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, 3 insiders bought $2.1 million of Willis Towers Watson shares on the open market, and 2 insiders sold $1.2 million.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 10, 2026 | Alexis FaberChief Operating Officer | Sold | 730 | $342.70 | $250,171 | Form 4 |
| May 6, 2026 | Lucy ClarkePresident of Risk & Broking | Bought | 1,896 | $263.37 | $499,350 | Form 4 |
| May 4, 2026 | Carl Aaron HessChief Executive Officer, Director | Bought | 2,000 | $255.08 | $510,160 | Form 4 |
| Mar 3, 2026 | Matthew FurmanGeneral Counsel | Sold | 3,000 | $304.00 | $912,000 | Form 4 |
| Feb 13, 2026 | Lucy ClarkePresident of Risk & Broking | Bought | 3,500 | $284.84 | $996,940 | Form 4 |
| Feb 12, 2026 | Michael P. HammondDirector | Bought | 241 | $278.86 | $67,205 | Form 4 |
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Fail | Fail | Fail |
| Current ratio rose | Fail | Pass | Pass |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Gross margin rose | — | — | — |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| F-score | 6 of 8 | 5 of 8 | 7 of 8 |
| Accruals ratio | −0.9% | −5.7% | −0.6% |
Compare
Put Willis Towers Watson side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Willis Towers Watson | FY25 | −2.2% | 23.0% | 15.9% | 12.8% | 2.5x | 7 | |
| Arthur J. Gallagher | FY25 | 20.7% | — | 12.8% | 9.9% | 3.3x | 3 | Compare |
| Brown & Brown | FY25 | 22.8% | — | 23.4% | 9.1% | 3.8x | 4 | Compare |
| Aon | FY25 | 9.4% | 25.3% | 18.7% | 15.6% | 2.8x | 4 | Compare |
| Erie Indemnity | FY25 | 7.2% | 17.6% | 14.0% | 31.8% | −0.5x | — | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 7,887 | 8,202 | 8,513 | 8,370 | 8,615 | 8,998 | 8,866 | 9,483 | 9,930 | 9,708 |
| Revenue growth | 106.0% | 4.0% | 3.8% | −1.7% | 2.9% | 4.5% | −1.5% | 7.0% | 4.7% | −2.2% |
| Gross profit | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Research and development | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating income | 348 | 516 | 809 | 1,054 | 859 | 2,202 | 1,178 | 1,365 | 627 | 2,234 |
| Net income | 420 | 568 | 695 | 1,044 | 996 | 4,222 | 1,009 | 1,055 | −98 | 1,605 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 3.04 | 4.18 | 5.27 | 8.02 | 7.65 | 32.78 | 8.98 | 9.95 | −0.96 | 16.26 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 138 | 136 | 132 | 130 | 130 | 129 | 112 | 106 | 102 | 99 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 933 | 862 | 1,288 | 1,081 | 1,774 | 2,061 | 812 | 1,345 | 1,512 | 1,775 |
| Capital expenditure | 218 | 300 | 268 | 59 | 63 | 53 | 66 | 242 | 245 | 229 |
| Free cash flow | 715 | 562 | 1,020 | 1,022 | 1,711 | 2,008 | 746 | 1,103 | 1,267 | 1,546 |
| Dividends paid | 199 | 277 | 306 | 329 | 346 | 374 | 369 | 352 | 354 | 358 |
| Share buybacks | 396 | 532 | 602 | 150 | 0 | 1,627 | 3,530 | 1,000 | 901 | 1,650 |
| Acquisitions | 476 | 13 | 36 | 1,329 | 69 | 47 | 81 | 6 | 104 | 15 |
| Stock-based compensation | 123 | 67 | 50 | 74 | 90 | 101 | 99 | 125 | 121 | 153 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 870 | 1,030 | 1,033 | 887 | 2,039 | 4,686 | 1,262 | 1,424 | 1,890 | 3,157 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | — | 5,638 | 6,400 | 8,042 | 7,906 | 6,655 | 6,772 | 7,447 | 8,618 | 9,687 |
| Total assets | 30,253 | 32,458 | 32,385 | 35,426 | 38,531 | 34,970 | 31,769 | 29,090 | 27,681 | 29,530 |
| Total liabilities | 20,019 | 22,181 | 22,388 | 25,057 | 27,599 | 21,662 | 21,676 | 19,497 | 19,664 | 21,478 |
| Shareholders' equity | 10,065 | 10,126 | 9,852 | 10,249 | 10,820 | 13,260 | 10,016 | 9,520 | 7,940 | 7,976 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating margin | 4.4% | 6.3% | 9.5% | 12.6% | 10.0% | 24.5% | 13.3% | 14.4% | 6.3% | 23.0% |
| Net margin | 5.3% | 6.9% | 8.2% | 12.5% | 11.6% | 46.9% | 11.4% | 11.1% | −1.0% | 16.5% |
| Free cash flow margin | 9.1% | 6.8% | 12.0% | 12.2% | 19.9% | 22.3% | 8.4% | 11.6% | 12.8% | 15.9% |
| Return on capital | — | — | 4.5% | 5.2% | 3.8% | 11.0% | 6.5% | 7.3% | 2.1% | 12.8% |
| Return on equity | 6.8% | 5.6% | 7.0% | 10.4% | 9.4% | 35.1% | 8.7% | 10.8% | −1.1% | 20.2% |
| Return on assets | 1.7% | 1.8% | 2.1% | 3.1% | 2.7% | 11.5% | 3.0% | 3.5% | −0.3% | 5.6% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | — | 3.4x | 3.5x | 4.0x | 3.6x | 0.7x | 3.2x | 3.2x | 6.2x | 2.5x |