Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Sanders Morris Harris LLC

Sanders Morris Harris LLC lowered its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 85.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,948 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 138,450 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Financial Corp IN grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.4% in the third quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 264,644 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.1% in the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 4,562 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

WBA traded up $0.07 during trading on Thursday, reaching $12.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,463,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 29,399,582. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $9.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.81. The company has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $23.76.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.94%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.04.

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.