Park Avenue Securities LLC Reduces Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Park Avenue Securities LLC lowered its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 19.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,530 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 4,808 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $445,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 40.7% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 95,069 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 27,506 shares during the last quarter. Polianta Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. Polianta Ltd now owns 50,400 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 8,900 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.3% during the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 102,423 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,222,000 after buying an additional 23,211 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.8% during the first quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 31,593 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.6% in the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 32,397 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $703,000 after buying an additional 1,138 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WBA. SVB Leerink lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price objective (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Friday. UBS Group reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $20.64.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,235,859.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $12.10 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.17. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $11.68 and a 12-month high of $31.32. The company has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted 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 $0.67 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.27%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

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.