Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading 1.4% Higher

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) shot up 1.4% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $11.46 and last traded at $11.32. 4,067,513 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 15,655,867 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.16.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WBA. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $16.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 2.7 %

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $10.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.72.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.46%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,519,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $170,233,000 after buying an additional 613,847 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 3,077,336 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $80,349,000 after buying an additional 339,143 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,249,654 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $58,738,000 after buying an additional 27,634 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 25.3% during the first quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 1,839,987 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $39,909,000 after purchasing an additional 371,386 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.