Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Choate Investment Advisors

Choate Investment Advisors decreased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 12.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,257 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,398 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $374,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 107,071 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,796,000 after buying an additional 523 shares in the last quarter. Insight Folios Inc grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Insight Folios Inc now owns 9,640 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $252,000 after buying an additional 525 shares in the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.8% during the first quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 31,593 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 11,866 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Finally, Westpac Banking Corp increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.1% during the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 6,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on WBA shares. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target (down from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Friday, June 28th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $17.71.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded up $0.20 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $11.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 20,635,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,142,101. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $10.69 and a twelve month high of $31.32. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $15.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.11.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.55%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.84%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.