Pitcairn Co. Takes $159,000 Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Pitcairn Co. purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 17,714 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $159,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Inlet Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% during the second quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 47,820 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $578,000 after buying an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.6% during the second quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 15,340 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 950 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% during the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,690 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WBA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 3.8 %

WBA opened at $9.06 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.91, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. Analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.04%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. 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.