Bank of New York Mellon Corp Grows Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,432,383 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 478,061 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.63% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $50,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Financial Corp IN lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 3,208 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter worth $30,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.54.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA opened at $10.75 on Thursday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $22.05. The stock has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.05, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.58 and a 200 day moving average of $9.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current 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.