Avenir Corp Sells 10,654 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Avenir Corp lessened its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 17.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 51,131 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 10,654 shares during the period. Avenir Corp’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $805,506,000 after buying an additional 2,279,495 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $194,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,587 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $58,241,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $10.80 on Thursday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $18.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $10.80 and its 200-day moving average is $10.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.