Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $13.00 to $12.00. The stock had previously closed at $11.46, but opened at $9.95. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance shares last traded at $9.69, with a volume of 17,331,138 shares trading hands.

Several other research firms have also commented on WBA. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $13.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 76.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 440,483 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $3,947,000 after buying an additional 190,996 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $5,559,000 after acquiring an additional 185,762 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 340,431 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $3,050,000 after buying an additional 64,586 shares during the period. Finally, Sasco Capital Inc. CT lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT now owns 1,041,440 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $9,331,000 after purchasing an additional 124,950 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $8.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 0.64. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $10.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.83.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.