Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Lowered to $15.00 at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its target price cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $20.00 to $15.00 in a report published on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on WBA. 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. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on 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. Bank of America reiterated an underperform rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an in-line rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $15.46.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $9.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.43 and its 200 day moving average is $16.18. The stock has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.72. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $9.03 and a one year high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.81%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $630,334,000 after purchasing an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 613,847 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992,648 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after purchasing an additional 156,484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at about $31,028,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.