Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Columbia Asset Management

Columbia Asset Management reduced its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 96.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,897 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 694,090 shares during the period. Columbia Asset Management's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $245,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $58,241,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 186.3% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,740,100 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $72,215,000 after buying an additional 5,036,300 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the fourth 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. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 101.2% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 4,595,507 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $42,876,000 after buying an additional 2,311,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in 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 worth $805,506,000 after buying an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased 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 now owns 145,621,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition 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 insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a "hold" rating for the company. 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 assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA stock remained flat at $11.25 during mid-day trading on Friday. The stock had a trading volume of 5,407,111 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,953,297. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $16.25. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of -1.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.