Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. reduced its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,452 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 3,593 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $165,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% during the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% during the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 3.1 %

WBA stock opened at $9.62 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $8.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.69. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.22 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $12.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.40%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Friday, October 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.88.

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.