Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on WBA. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of WBA opened at $11.06 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.08, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $19.48. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $10.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,249,000 after acquiring an additional 63,149 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth $326,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,200,000 after acquiring an additional 80,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 67.0% in the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 210,179 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after purchasing an additional 84,303 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company 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.