Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Has $361,000 Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 63.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 40,300 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 68,700 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WBA. Scientech Research LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,215,000. Ariel Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $24,660,000 after purchasing an additional 198,891 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter valued at about $795,000. Clifford Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 58.4% in the 2nd quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC now owns 803,204 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $9,715,000 after buying an additional 296,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 89.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 349,464 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,580,000 after buying an additional 165,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $9.23 on Thursday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.22 and a 1 year high of $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.98 billion, a PE ratio of -0.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $12.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.83%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -9.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen cut their price target 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.88.

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.