Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading 3% Higher

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s share price was up 3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $9.30 and last traded at $9.29. Approximately 4,597,405 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 16,050,952 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.02.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on WBA. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.48 and a 200-day moving average of $15.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after purchasing an additional 10,612,373 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter worth $31,028,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $29,816,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $16,365,000. 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.