Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Now Covered by StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on WBA. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.3 %

NASDAQ WBA traded down $0.03 on Friday, hitting $10.94. The company's stock had a trading volume of 776,251 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,977,734. 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 has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $18.83. The firm has a market cap of $9.46 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.07, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $10.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.25.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This represents a 0.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 17.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter worth about $208,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,587 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 1,454 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at approximately $130,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the third quarter worth $92,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 54.4% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 321,425 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $2,893,000 after purchasing an additional 113,242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company's stock.

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.