Tobam Makes New $296,000 Investment in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Tobam bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 26,532 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 16.5% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 26,084 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $243,000 after purchasing an additional 3,685 shares during the period. Ingalls & Snyder LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 338,779 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $3,161,000 after purchasing an additional 40,570 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 131.2% in the 4th quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 321,880 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $3,003,000 after purchasing an additional 182,644 shares during the period. Finally, Secured Retirement Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $99,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded up $0.03 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.39. 6,884,552 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,895,127. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.11, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at $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 is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 17.50% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.