ProShare Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 6.9% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 923,146 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 68,189 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $11,165,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth about $333,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $297,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $7,325,000 after buying an additional 78,523 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 373.3% during the first quarter. Sanders Morris Harris LLC now owns 112,398 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,438,000 after acquiring an additional 88,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 301,910 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,883,000 after acquiring an additional 40,095 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on WBA shares. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $8.56 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.46 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $10.23 and a 200 day moving average of $14.59. 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 posted 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 business had revenue of $36.40 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.68%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -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.