Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $17.71.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective 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.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.7% during the second quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA now owns 28,678 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 1,281 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,210,000. Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.8% in the second quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 54,775 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,475 shares in the last quarter. Clarius Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at approximately $264,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,079.2% in the 2nd quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 4,139 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 3,788 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.43 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a fifty-two week low of $10.69 and a fifty-two week high of $31.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a PE ratio of -1.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.72. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $15.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.32.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.75%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -14.84%.

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.