Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Lowered to $9.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its price target cut by Jefferies Financial Group from $19.00 to $9.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a hold rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $9.26 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a twelve month low of $8.22 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $12.82.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.80%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in 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 valued at $630,334,000 after purchasing an additional 10,612,373 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,882,000 after buying an additional 156,484 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $24,660,000 after acquiring an additional 198,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.