Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Up 2.2%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) was up 2.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $8.52 and last traded at $8.43. Approximately 5,155,540 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 16,262,313 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.25.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 2.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $14.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.79%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Syon Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth about $333,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth approximately $297,000. Sanders Morris Harris LLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $2,438,000 after purchasing an additional 88,650 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 89.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 349,464 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,580,000 after purchasing an additional 165,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norden Group LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth approximately $1,515,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.