Walgreens Boots Alliance’s (WBA) Underperform Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

Bank of America reissued their underperform rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $11.00 target price on the pharmacy operator’s stock, down from their prior target price of $22.00.

WBA has been the topic of several other research reports. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $13.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, SVB Leerink reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a market perform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $20.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $12.10 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $11.68 and a 1-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 0.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $20.19.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by ($0.04). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The company had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

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

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,494 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $196,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $333,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.6% during 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 acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $297,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 280,545 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $7,325,000 after purchasing an additional 78,523 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.