Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading Down 2.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price fell 2.7% on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $20.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $11.76 and last traded at $11.77. 8,344,530 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 42% from the average session volume of 14,350,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $12.10.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on WBA. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Barclays decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $11.00 price target (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Friday. 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. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $19.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Highlander Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Pineridge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,241.8% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,060 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 981 shares during the last quarter. Rocky Mountain Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 4.3 %

The company has a market cap of $10.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.14.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced 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 $0.68 by ($0.05). The company 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%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.