Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) PT Lowered to $9.00 at Morgan Stanley

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $13.00 to $9.00 in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

WBA has been the subject of several other reports. SVB Leerink decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a report on Friday. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a market perform rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $20.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $12.10 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a twelve month low of $11.68 and a twelve month high of $31.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a 50-day moving average of $16.49 and a 200-day moving average of $20.14. The firm has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth $411,000. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 73.9% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 110,889 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,405,000 after acquiring an additional 47,136 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 89.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 349,464 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $7,580,000 after acquiring an additional 165,389 shares during the period. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter valued at $16,365,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at about $145,000. 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.