Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Sets New 1-Year Low on Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $17.00 to $12.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $11.34 and last traded at $11.38, with a volume of 3330032 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $11.57.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $17.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 107,071 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,796,000 after purchasing an additional 523 shares during the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 9,640 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 31,593 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 11,866 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 6,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $16.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.05. The firm has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -14.84%.

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.