Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile (NASDAQ:WBA)

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share on Tuesday, September 12th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 16th. This is a boost 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 has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, June 30th 2017, which authorizes the company to repurchase $5,000,000,000.00 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 5.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June, 29th. The company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.03. The company earned $30.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.72 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a net margin of 3.69% and a return on equity of 17.34%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.18 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.

Walgreens Boots Alliance issued an update on its FY17 earnings guidance on Thursday, June, 29th. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $4.98-5.08 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus earnings per share estimate of $4.96.

17 brokerages have issued 1-year target prices for Walgreens Boots Alliance's shares. Their predictions range from $77.00 to $100.00. On average, they expect Walgreens Boots Alliance's share price to reach $91.67 in the next twelve months. View Analyst Ratings for Walgreens Boots Alliance.

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

• 1. 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)
• 2. According to Zacks Investment Research, "Since the company reported a dull performance in its fiscal second quarter, Walgreens Boots was trading below the broader industry. The situation is expected to deteriorate further on the recent news breakout that FTC may block the company’s mega $17 billion Rite Aid merger on regulatory issues. Declining sales at the Retail Pharmacy International and Pharmaceutical Wholesale divisions were also major disappointments. Currency headwind and stiff competition are other major woes. On a positive note, in the last-reported quarter, the company’s Retail Pharmacy USA division saw the highest comparable prescription growth in seven years. Management is also optimistic about its cost savings program and strategic tie-ups. The company’s strong cash position is also encouraging." (6/14/2017)
• 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 during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,591,772 shares, an increase of 29.4% from the August 15th total of 14,371,494 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,454,337 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.2 days. Currently, 2.0% of the company's stock are sold short.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance's stock is owned by many different of retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors include Vanguard Group Inc. (6.54%), BlackRock Inc. (5.13%), State Street Corp (3.52%), Franklin Resources Inc. (1.73%), Capital World Investors (1.55%) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp (1.25%). 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 Ameriprise Financial Inc., Thrivent Financial For Lutherans, Lazard Asset Management LLC, Capital World Investors, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, Atlantic Trust Group LLC, Maverick Capital Ltd. and Macquarie Group Ltd.. 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 bought by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Franklin Resources Inc., Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership, Vanguard Group Inc., Glenview Capital Management LLC, American Century Companies Inc., Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC, Nordea Investment Management AB and Dimensional Fund Advisors LP. 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 $78.41.