Arrow Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Arrow Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 28,481 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WBA. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 84,053 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,145 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.8% during the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 14,157 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 315.4% during the first quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 81,730 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $912,000 after acquiring an additional 62,053 shares in the last quarter. Lesa Sroufe & Co purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $209,000. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter valued at $331,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was bought at an average price 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 in the company, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 17.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.61. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $10.73. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $16.25. The company has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 16.39% and a negative net margin of 3.80%. Walgreens Boots Alliance's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on WBA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut 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. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price 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.

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