StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA)

Investment analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) in a report issued on Monday. The firm set a "hold" rating on the pharmacy operator's stock.

WBA has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $10.98 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $10.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.26. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $18.83. The firm has a market cap of $9.49 billion, a PE ratio of -1.07, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.20 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 17.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $805,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $194,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,587 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $122,737,000 after buying an additional 2,185,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,896,742 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $83,007,000 after buying an additional 1,407,973 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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