Morgan Stanley Lowers Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target to $9.00

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $13.00 to $9.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underweight rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Raymond James restated a market perform rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $17.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America restated an underperform rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $20.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.7 %

WBA opened at $12.10 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $11.68 and a one year high of $31.32. The stock has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $16.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

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

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the first 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 during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the third 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth about $29,816,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $23,226,000 after purchasing an additional 846,884 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.