Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Cut to $12.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its price objective cut by UBS Group from $17.00 to $12.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on WBA. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Barclays cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America reissued 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $17.71.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $11.10 on Wednesday. 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 has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.65, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $16.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.95. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52-week low of $11.10 and a 52-week high of $31.32.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The company had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.01%. The ex-dividend date 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 the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $630,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at $29,816,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $23,226,000 after purchasing an additional 846,884 shares during the last quarter. 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.