Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Acquired by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 149,240 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after purchasing an additional 26,325 shares during the period. Mariner LLC's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,392,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WBA. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth $58,241,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $303,902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631,332 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the 4th 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 during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $122,737,000 after buying an additional 2,185,950 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $41,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,839,045 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WBA shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Sunday. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock traded up $0.04 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.97. 3,205,812 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,991,576. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $10.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.24. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.07, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $18.83.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. Walgreens Boots Alliance's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current 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.