Bank Hapoalim BM Makes New $570,000 Investment in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Bank Hapoalim BM acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 51,000 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $570,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings 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. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% in 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 grew its holdings 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 worth $194,082,000 after buying an additional 1,020,587 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,896,742 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $83,007,000 after buying an additional 1,407,973 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,972,514 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $74,384,000 after buying an additional 378,039 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the chairman directly owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA traded down $0.04 on Friday, reaching $11.53. 1,216,920 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,343,839. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $13.25. The company's 50 day moving average is $11.30 and its 200-day moving average is $10.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of -1.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $38.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.72 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.66% and a negative net margin of 4.07%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WBA. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underweight" rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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.