Townsend & Associates Inc Buys 127,371 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Townsend & Associates Inc grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 167.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 203,451 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after acquiring an additional 127,371 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 51,209 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 4,876 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 305.5% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 36,930 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 54,901 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $143,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,432,383 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $50,684,000 after buying an additional 478,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 31.1% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 13,570 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $127,000 after buying an additional 3,221 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. This represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 17.50% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.45 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $13.25. The stock has a market cap of $9.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.57, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.78. The company's 50 day moving average is $11.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.84.

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

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.

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