Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Free Report) dropped 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $15.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $9.18 and last traded at $9.19. Approximately 5,629,194 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 15,731,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.25.
WBA has been the topic of several other reports. UBS Group cut their target price on 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. Barclays cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price 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. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $15.46.
Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.8% in the first quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 31,593 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 6,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares in the last quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.3% in the first quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 11,821 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 32,085 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.9% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 6,757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $176,000 after purchasing an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance
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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.43 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.18. The company has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.72.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The business had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.81%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -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.
