Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Cut to $13.00 by Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its price objective reduced by Royal Bank of Canada from $22.00 to $13.00 in a research note published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WBA. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America reaffirmed an underperform rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $18.07.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $11.57 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.72, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.72. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a twelve month low of $11.40 and a twelve month high of $31.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $16.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $20.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 221.6% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,275 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $136,000 after buying an additional 7,769 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at approximately $411,000. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 73.9% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 110,889 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,405,000 after acquiring an additional 47,136 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 89.8% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 349,464 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,580,000 after purchasing an additional 165,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth $16,365,000. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.