Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock Price Up 1.3% – Time to Buy?

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s share price shot up 1.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $9.54 and last traded at $9.47. 4,359,324 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 17,247,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.35.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WBA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Truist Financial lowered 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 note on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The company has a market cap of $8.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $9.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $12.91.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 32,085 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.1% during the first quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,335 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $810,000 after acquiring an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 60.4% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,130 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 802 shares during the last quarter. True Vision MN LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.3% in the first quarter. True Vision MN LLC now owns 26,137 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $567,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.9% in the first quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 99,661 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,162,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.