Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Hits New 12-Month Low on Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $17.00 to $12.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $11.34 and last traded at $11.38, with a volume of 3330032 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $11.57.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. SVB Leerink decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Four equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $279,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720,228 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth about $29,816,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $23,226,000 after buying an additional 846,884 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 4.1 %

The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $16.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.95. 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 cap of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.65, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.72.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.01%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -14.84%.

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.