Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. reduced its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 30.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,479 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WBA. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% in the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,081 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% in the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 30th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $9.06 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.46 and a fifty-two week high of $27.05. The stock has a market cap of $7.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.44 and a 200-day moving average of $14.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s 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.