Simon Quick Advisors LLC Invests $350,000 in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 31,358 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $350,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $805,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,495 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 worth $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,020,587 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 worth $122,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,950 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,407,973 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $11.39. 6,884,552 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,895,127. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $11.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a PE ratio of -1.11, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $16.25.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.01 per share, with a total value 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 approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WBA. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their target price 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 report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Finally, Wolfe Research raised 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.59.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

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.