Ethic Inc. Has $774,000 Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Ethic Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 55.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,966 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after buying an additional 29,686 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $303,902,000 after buying an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $194,082,000 after buying an additional 1,020,587 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased 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 buying an additional 2,185,950 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,896,742 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $83,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407,973 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA traded down $0.01 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.25. 568,508 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,965,900. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $11.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $10.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $18.17. The company has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 purchase, the chairman now owns 145,621,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 17.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their target price 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. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.59.

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.