Inderpal S. Bhandari Purchases 3,000 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded down $0.20 on Monday, reaching $17.65. The company had a trading volume of 10,499,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,522,849. The firm has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $20.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.07. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.53 and a 1 year high of $36.14.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,927,656,000 after acquiring an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $2,192,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,885 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,448,648 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $481,694,000 after buying an additional 4,163,317 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $378,668,000 after buying an additional 3,013,807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $279,876,000 after buying an additional 1,720,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. SVB Leerink cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $24.36.

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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