Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 77,330,000 shares, a decrease of 19.9% from the December 15th total of 96,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 24,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.1 days. Currently, 10.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.04.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $12.53 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a PE ratio of -1.22, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.81. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $23.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.98%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -9.77%.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. First Financial Corp IN boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.