Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Cut to $12.00

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its price target lowered by UBS Group from $17.00 to $12.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

WBA has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed an underperform rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Friday, June 28th. SVB Leerink decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $17.71.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.26 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.83. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $10.85 and a one year high of $31.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a PE ratio of -1.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 0.72.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.88%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 17.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,494 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $196,000 after purchasing an additional 1,893 shares during the period. Syon Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $333,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 115,196 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $297,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 280,545 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,325,000 after purchasing an additional 78,523 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.