Short Interest in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Increases By 15.2%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 82,910,000 shares, an increase of 15.2% from the August 15th total of 71,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 20,900,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.0 days. Approximately 11.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in 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 period. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $333,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter valued at about $297,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 38.9% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 280,545 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,325,000 after acquiring an additional 78,523 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sanders Morris Harris LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 373.3% in the first quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 112,398 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,438,000 after acquiring an additional 88,650 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WBA shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 4.2 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $9.21 on Monday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a twelve month low of $8.46 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The stock has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.70. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $10.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $15.10.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued 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 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.84%.

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.