Signaturefd LLC Sells 2,072 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Signaturefd LLC lowered its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 13.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,725 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,072 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $72,826,000 after acquiring an additional 2,992,648 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after acquiring an additional 156,484 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at about $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $24,660,000 after acquiring an additional 198,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on WBA. Barclays lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of WBA stock opened at $9.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.94, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 0.70. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.22 and a fifty-two week high of $27.05. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.59%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -9.99%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.