Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading Up 1.3% – Time to Buy?

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s share price traded up 1.3% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $9.54 and last traded at $9.47. 4,359,324 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 17,247,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Truist Financial cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $12.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.11 billion, a PE ratio of -0.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter worth $170,000. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 117.2% during the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 6,792 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 3,665 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 33,916 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $304,000 after buying an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 83.4% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 385,600 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,455,000 after acquiring an additional 175,400 shares during the period. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $164,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

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.