GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. lessened its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 20.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 468,918 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 120,421 shares during the period. GW Henssler & Associates Ltd. owned 0.05% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $12,243,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 84,503.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,325,830 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $311,053,000 after acquiring an additional 8,315,989 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $378,668,000 after acquiring an additional 3,013,807 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $2,192,584,000 after purchasing an additional 2,797,885 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $279,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,228 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
WBA has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an "underweight" rating and a $21.00 target price for the company. SVB Leerink cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. HSBC restated a "reduce" rating and set a $20.00 price target (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "d+" rating to a "c-" rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $24.36.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on WBA
Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 6.0 %
Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded down $1.16 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $18.02. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,325,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,622,666. The company has a market capitalization of $15.55 billion, a PE ratio of -2.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.66. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $17.86 and a 52 week high of $36.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.14.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.
Insider Buying and Selling at Walgreens Boots Alliance
In other news, Director Nancy M. Schlichting sold 15,209 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $350,567.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Nancy M. Schlichting sold 15,209 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $350,567.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Valerie B. Jarrett acquired 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average price of $22.44 per share, with a total value of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares in the company, valued at $99,992.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 17.40% of the company's stock.
About Walgreens Boots Alliance
(
Free Report)
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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