Independent Advisor Alliance Grows Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Independent Advisor Alliance lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 46.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,310 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,492 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,028,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $16,365,000. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth $5,252,000. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 3.8 %

Shares of WBA stock opened at $9.06 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.14 and a 200 day moving average of $11.36. The stock has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -9.99%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.