Plato Investment Management Ltd Boosts Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Plato Investment Management Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 391,684.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 50,932 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 50,919 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $616,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Atlas Brown Inc. raised 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 in the last quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.3% during the first quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 11,821 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 32,085 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $696,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 10,124 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckley Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,335 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $810,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA stock opened at $9.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $8.46 and a one year high of $27.05. The firm has a market cap of $7.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI cut 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. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.