Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock Price Up 0.4%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price shot up 0.4% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $16.02 and last traded at $15.93. 3,374,202 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 12,991,738 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.87.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WBA. UBS Group lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Monday, April 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.57.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.47.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.26%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 107,071 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,796,000 after acquiring an additional 523 shares during the period. Insight Folios Inc grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 9,640 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $252,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 31,593 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 11,866 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 6,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $159,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.