Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading 3.5% Higher

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) shares rose 3.5% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $12.67 and last traded at $12.62. Approximately 17,238,873 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 22% from the average daily volume of 14,099,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. SVB Leerink dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.3 %

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $16.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.48 billion, a PE ratio of -1.76, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.29%.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after buying an additional 10,962,030 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $279,876,000 after buying an additional 1,720,228 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,519,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $170,233,000 after buying an additional 613,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.4% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,077,336 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $80,349,000 after buying an additional 339,143 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc operates as a healthcare, pharmacy, and retail company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through three segments: U.S. Retail Pharmacy, International, and U.S. Healthcare. The U.S. Retail Pharmacy segment engages in operation of the retail drugstores, health and wellness services, specialty, and home delivery pharmacy services, which offers health and wellness, beauty, personal care and consumables, and general merchandise.