Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,060 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,569 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,060 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 31.4% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 7,661 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $71,000 after buying an additional 1,830 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 83.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,312 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 2,422 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 61.1% during the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 40,629 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 15,414 shares during the period. Clare Market Investments LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $853,000. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 38,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $362,000 after buying an additional 5,518 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $11.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.89 and a 200 day moving average of $9.79. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $22.05.

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

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.