KBC Group NV Lowers Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

KBC Group NV decreased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 35.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 69,771 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 38,896 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.1% during the third quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 4,562 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 37.6% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 14,445 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 3,950 shares during the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth $872,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 126.0% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 239,816 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,149,000 after acquiring an additional 133,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 29,543 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 7,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four investment 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $8.66 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.87, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.18 and a 200-day moving average of $11.76. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.20 and a 52 week high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.55%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s 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.