Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $12.52, but opened at $11.72. Walgreens Boots Alliance shares last traded at $11.10, with a volume of 9,135,996 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on WBA. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.27.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $10.15 billion, a PE ratio of -1.15, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $9.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS 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%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,594,475 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $68,046,000 after purchasing an additional 817,762 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% during the 3rd 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. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,200,000 after purchasing an additional 80,525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.