Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 288,657 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 75.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 672,104 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 288,657 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $6,022,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.0% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 115,332 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,500,000 after purchasing an additional 13,304 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 101.7% during the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 88,903 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,977,000 after buying an additional 44,826 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.7% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,188,354 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,775,000 after buying an additional 8,699 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.9% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 87,253 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,878,000 after buying an additional 19,557 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.3% during the first quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 81,030 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,758,000 after acquiring an additional 3,332 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on WBA. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $9.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $9.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $11.37. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The company 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%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is presently -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.