Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI Sells 30,602 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI reduced its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 17.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 145,347 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 30,602 shares during the quarter. Schaper Benz & Wise Investment Counsel Inc. WI's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $805,506,000 after buying an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,020,587 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during 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 last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,896,742 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $83,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407,973 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of WBA stock traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $11.39. The company had a trading volume of 4,328,801 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,763,446. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $16.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64. The firm has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's 50-day moving average is $11.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its 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 business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four equities 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.59.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina purchased 832,258 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. This represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.