Moore Capital Management LP Takes $1.32 Million Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Moore Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 140,943 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $1,315,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,241,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $303,902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631,332 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $41,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,839,045 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com started coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded up $0.11 on Friday, reaching $11.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,903,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,062,262. The company has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $11.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.34. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $18.45. 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 - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 145,621,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.