Summit Financial LLC Buys New Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Summit Financial LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 14,298 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $133,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,559,000 after acquiring an additional 185,762 shares during the period. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 63,149 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $326,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,200,000 after buying an additional 80,525 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 67.0% during the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 210,179 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after buying an additional 84,303 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 3.4 %

NASDAQ WBA opened at $10.68 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $19.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.04, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.97.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm 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 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.