Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading Up 3%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price was up 3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $9.30 and last traded at $9.29. Approximately 4,597,405 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 16,050,952 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.02.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WBA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a PE ratio of -1.37, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.48 and its 200-day moving average is $15.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.31.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued 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). The company 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 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 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 Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.96%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after purchasing an additional 10,612,373 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,028,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,816,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $16,365,000. 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.