Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Up 0.1%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price traded up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $8.72 and last traded at $8.72. 3,634,594 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 16,209,889 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.71.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WBA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $7.45 billion, a PE ratio of -1.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $10.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.59%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.8% in the first quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 31,593 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 550 shares during the period. Shilanski & Associates Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 11,821 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 32,085 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,335 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $810,000 after purchasing an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 60.4% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 802 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

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.