Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $13.19.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WBA shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063 shares during the period. Lincluden Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 264,644 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $9.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.77. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $22.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.