Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Down 0.6% After Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price dropped 0.6% during trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $15.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $9.18 and last traded at $9.19. Approximately 5,629,194 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 15,731,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.25.

Several other research firms have also commented on WBA. UBS Group dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Friday, June 28th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $15.46.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,494 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $196,000 after acquiring an additional 1,893 shares in the last quarter. Syon Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $333,000. New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 115,196 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,008,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $297,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 280,545 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $7,325,000 after purchasing an additional 78,523 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $11.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.87%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

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.