Hennessy Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 16.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 205,400 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,300 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,816,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter worth approximately $16,365,000. Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter worth approximately $13,710,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,519,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $170,233,000 after purchasing an additional 613,847 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WBA. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $11.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $10.30 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $10.02 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.72.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced 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). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 9.71%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.