Traders Purchase Large Volume of Walgreens Boots Alliance Call Options (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 144,245 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 152% compared to the average volume of 57,147 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on WBA shares. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research 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 issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.58.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.3% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 136,450 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,650,000 after acquiring an additional 10,510 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 83.9% during the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 24,256 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 11,064 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 22.6% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 29,734 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 5,476 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.7% in the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,133 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.0% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,699 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 17.7 %

WBA opened at $10.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $27.05. The company has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.04, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.84.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 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 company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.60%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

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.