Alpha Family Trust Invests $265,000 in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Alpha Family Trust purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 28,350 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $265,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $58,241,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in 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 increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% during 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 last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WBA shares. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Monday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

WBA traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $11.00. The company had a trading volume of 5,885,054 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,037,607. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $18.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $10.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.26. The company has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The business's revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.