Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Sees Strong Trading Volume

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 5,993,805 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 57% from the previous session’s volume of 14,008,702 shares.The stock last traded at $12.26 and had previously closed at $12.19.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $17.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.17. The company has a market cap of $10.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.79, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.67 by ($0.04). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. 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 firm posted $1.00 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.88 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $19.38 per share, with a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after acquiring an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $279,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,720,228 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $29,816,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $23,226,000 after purchasing an additional 846,884 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.