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

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders purchased 82,076 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 38% compared to the typical volume of 59,376 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% in the 2nd quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Pineridge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $9.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.70. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52-week low of $8.46 and a 52-week high of $27.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $10.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $15.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

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.