Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Down 4.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) was down 4.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $9.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $9.26 and last traded at $9.33. Approximately 10,812,812 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 17,231,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.73.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Ballentine Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $164,000. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% in the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 151,527 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $94,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 701.3% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 282,619 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 247,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevated Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.5% in the third quarter. Elevated Capital Advisors LLC now owns 53,605 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 14,043 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 3.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.91.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.