First Trust Advisors LP Makes New Investment in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 39,403 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $368,000.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Financial Corp IN increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Riverview Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 123.8% during the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 2,874 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Independence Bank of Kentucky acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at $39,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina purchased 832,258 shares of the 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 completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 17.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Four 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA traded down $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $11.37. The stock had a trading volume of 10,965,558 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,056,985. The stock has a market cap of $9.83 billion, a PE ratio of -1.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $11.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.31. 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 one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $18.83.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company 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.