Schroder Investment Management Group Increases Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,111,062 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 498,674 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $47,686,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after purchasing an additional 185,762 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 63,149 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $326,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,200,000 after acquiring an additional 80,525 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 67.0% during the 3rd quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 210,179 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 84,303 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on WBA. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $11.17 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $10.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.93. The company has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $21.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current 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.