Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Raised to $8.50 at Bank of America

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its target price boosted by Bank of America from $7.50 to $8.50 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.81.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.2 %

WBA opened at $11.90 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.19, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $23.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.81.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.40%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -9.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,226,000. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,028,000. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $62,325,000 after purchasing an additional 934,754 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.