Woodline Partners LP Makes New Investment in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 43,097 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $402,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth $96,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 186.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,740,100 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $72,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,036,300 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 101.2% during the 4th 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. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 41.1% in the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 139,982 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,306,000 after purchasing an additional 40,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 133.1% in the fourth quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 114,907 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,072,000 after acquiring an additional 65,609 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the transaction, 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 17.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WBA. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA traded up $0.06 during trading on Friday, reaching $11.29. The stock had a trading volume of 69,211,159 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,013,277. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $16.27. The firm's fifty day moving average is $11.03 and its 200 day moving average is $10.50. The stock has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.20 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS 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.