Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC Trims Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC lowered its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 21.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,251 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 3,936 shares during the quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $172,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $630,334,000 after purchasing an additional 10,612,373 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,519,845 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $170,233,000 after acquiring an additional 613,847 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after acquiring an additional 156,484 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 2,249,654 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $58,738,000 after acquiring an additional 27,634 shares during the period. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 25.3% in the 1st quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 1,839,987 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $39,909,000 after purchasing an additional 371,386 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on WBA. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.46.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $9.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.37, a PEG ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.72. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $11.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.18. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.03 and a 12 month high of $27.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.81%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

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.