Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a report issued on Wednesday. The firm issued a hold rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on WBA. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.19 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. 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 has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $21.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.90.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $805,506,000 after buying an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $194,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,587 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.