Captrust Financial Advisors Decreases Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Captrust Financial Advisors trimmed its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 56.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 41,097 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 53,276 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WBA. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,699 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 1,069 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at approximately $125,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 530.2% in the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 3,403 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 2,863 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $32,882,000 after buying an additional 156,484 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. 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 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $10.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.66. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $27.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.27 and a 200-day moving average of $10.75.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

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.