D.A. Davidson & CO. Increases Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 127,776 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,203 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $62,325,000 after buying an additional 934,754 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,882,000 after buying an additional 156,484 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% during the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $24,660,000 after acquiring an additional 198,891 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $9.02 on Monday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $27.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.80 billion, a PE ratio of -0.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $9.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.20.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -9.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WBA has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, Truist Financial decreased 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 report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.