Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "WBA."

Walgreens Boots Alliance declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share on Tuesday, September 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This is an increase from Walgreens Boots Alliance's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. View Walgreens Boots Alliance's Dividend History.

Walgreens Boots Alliance announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 30th 2017, which allows the company to buyback $5,000,000,000.00 in shares, according to EventVestor. This buyback authorization allows the company to buy up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July, 6th. The company reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters' consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.04. The company earned $29.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.93 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a return on equity of 17.34% and a net margin of 3.69%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.02 earnings per share. View Walgreens Boots Alliance's Earnings History.

Walgreens Boots Alliance is scheduled to release their next quarterly earnings announcement on Wednesday, October, 25th 2017. View Earnings Estimates for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

19 brokerages have issued 1 year price targets for Walgreens Boots Alliance's stock. Their predictions range from $72.00 to $100.00. On average, they expect Walgreens Boots Alliance's share price to reach $89.81 in the next year. View Analyst Ratings for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Here are some recent quotes from research analysts about Walgreens Boots Alliance stock:

• 1. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Walgreens faces tough competitive landscapes along with currency fluctuations. Also, slowdown in generic introduction continues to weigh upon the company’s margins. However, over the last year, Walgreens has been trading above the broader industry. The company finally gaining approval from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the modified deal involving purchase of a number of Rite Aid (RAD) store buoys optimism. Although investors did not show much optimism regarding the company’s purchase of fewer-than-expected stores, we believe the deal’s financial outcome is pretty attractive. Moreover, this modified merger contract is expected to extend Walgreens’ growth strategy and offer additional operational benefits. We are also upbeat about Walgreens’ ‘Next Chapter plan’ through fiscal 2017 focusing on a multi-faceted cost-reduction initiative across the enterprise." (10/17/2017)
• 2. Pivotal Research analysts commented, "We believe that the asset based transaction with Rite Aid is much more beneficial for Walgreens Boots Alliance compared to the amended merger agreement from January 2017. Our quick read thru is that WBA is paying around $2.5 million per store compared to more than $4.1 million under the proposed transaction which would have included the divestiture of up to 1200 stores to Fred’s. Management appears to have a high level of confidence that it understands what is required from an FTC perspective and that the third attempt to consummate a deal with Rite Aid will pass regulatory scrutiny. The newly authorized share buyback program of $5 billion is also a significant positive for investors. The scaled down version transaction with Rite Aid will allow Walgreen to shrink the count at an accelerated rate through FY18. That said, we expect that core earnings will continue to be pressured. Quality of earnings was lacking of 3Q17, with a $0.07-$0.08 per share benefit from a lower than expected tax rate. Additionally, FIFO gross margin was down by 150 bps in the latest quarter on continued reimbursement pressures." (7/2/2017)
• 3. Jefferies Group LLC analysts commented, "We believe that today’s announcement of the proposed divestiture of 865 RAD stores to FRED for $950MM in cash should be sufficient to appease regulatory competition concerns and eliminate concerns about WBA’s ability to close the RAD deal." (12/21/2016)

Walgreens Boots Alliance saw a increase in short interest in the month of September. As of September 29th, there was short interest totalling 21,631,489 shares, an increase of 9.0% from the September 15th total of 19,846,113 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,371,016 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.4 days. Approximately 2.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Some companies that are related to Walgreens Boots Alliance include McDonald's Corporation (MCD), Inditex (IDEXY), The Priceline Group (PCLN), Starbucks Corporation (SBUX), CVS Health Corporation (CVS), Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST), Lowe's Companies (LOW), Kering Unspon (PPRUY), TJX Companies, Inc. (The) (TJX), Hennes & Mauritz AB (HNNMY), eBay (EBAY), Wal-Mart de Mexico SAB de CV (WMMVY), Target Corporation (TGT), Yum! Brands (YUM), Ross Stores (ROST), Expedia (EXPE), Dollar General Corporation (DG) and Dollar Tree (DLTR).

Walgreens Boots Alliance's stock is owned by many different of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Bath Savings Trust Co (0.00%), Park National Corp OH (0.00%), Eqis Capital Management Inc. (0.00%), Hefty Wealth Partners (0.00%), Fulton Bank N.A. (0.00%) and Bridges Investment Counsel Inc. (0.00%). Company insiders that own Walgreens Boots Alliance stock include Barry Rosenstein, George Rollo Fairweather, Janice M Babiak, John Anthony Lederer, Kathleen Wilson-Thompson, Ornella Barra, Stefano Pessina and William C Foote. View Institutional Ownership Trends for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Walgreens Boots Alliance's stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Park National Corp OH, Bridges Investment Counsel Inc., Private Asset Management Inc. and Bath Savings Trust Co. Company insiders that have sold Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in the last year include Kathleen Wilson-Thompson and William C Foote. View Insider Buying and Selling for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Walgreens Boots Alliance's stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Hefty Wealth Partners, Eqis Capital Management Inc. and Fulton Bank N.A.. Company insiders that have bought Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in the last two years include Janice M Babiak, John Anthony Lederer, Ornella Barra and Stefano Pessina. View Insider Buying and Selling for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Scottrade, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

One share of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock can currently be purchased for approximately $67.74.