Amundi Purchases 1,839,045 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Amundi lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 70.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,839,045 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $41,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after buying an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,226,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,685,000. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $62,325,000 after buying an additional 934,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $11.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $22.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.75 and a 200 day moving average of $9.74.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on WBA shares. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.54.

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.