Swedbank AB Trims Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Swedbank AB lessened its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 27.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 410,066 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 153,573 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WBA. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 115,332 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,500,000 after purchasing an additional 13,304 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 101.7% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 88,903 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 44,826 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,188,354 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,775,000 after purchasing an additional 8,699 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.9% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 87,253 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,878,000 after purchasing an additional 19,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.3% in the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 81,030 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after purchasing an additional 3,332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on WBA shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen cut 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 report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $9.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.91, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.69. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $11.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

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.