CENTRAL TRUST Co Lowers Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,735 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 5,036 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $240,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of WBA. First Financial Corp IN raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 3,208 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth about $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $9.89 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.13 and a 200 day moving average of $9.83. The company has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a PE ratio of -0.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $23.76.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WBA. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.19.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.