Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Up 6%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price was up 6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $9.12 and last traded at $9.03. Approximately 9,142,651 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 44% from the average daily volume of 16,303,138 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lowered 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price 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. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 7.4 %

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -14.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter worth about $958,000. Clifford Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 58.4% during the second quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 803,204 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $9,715,000 after buying an additional 296,135 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 41.3% during the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,050 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 3,816 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $313,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. 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.