Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading Down 2%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) was down 2% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $8.78 and last traded at $8.80. Approximately 3,928,663 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 16,035,016 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.98.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WBA shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 3.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $7.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.70. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $10.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.85.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter last 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, sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.49%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,992,648 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter worth $31,028,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth $29,816,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth $16,365,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.