AM Squared Ltd Invests $571,000 in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

AM Squared Ltd bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 16,500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $571,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Piscataqua Savings Bank raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 156.4% during the first quarter. Piscataqua Savings Bank now owns 736 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Private Ocean LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 65.6% during the first quarter. Private Ocean LLC now owns 757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 201.1% during the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 807 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Pittenger & Anderson Inc. purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter valued at $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $30.00 target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $33.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $36.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 29th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $38.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.23.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $21.72 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $21.39 and a 1 year high of $42.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The stock has a market cap of $18.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.66, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.69. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.08.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.00 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $35.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.32 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.62% and a negative net margin of 2.44%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.96 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 18th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.84%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -50.00%.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, EVP John Patrick Driscoll purchased 5,172 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $28.42 per share, for a total transaction of $146,988.24. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,050 shares in the company, valued at $1,678,201. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company Profile

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc operates as a pharmacy-led health and beauty retail company. It operates through two segments, the United States and International. The United States segment sells prescription drugs and an assortment of retail products, including health, wellness, beauty, personal care, consumable, and general merchandise products through its retail drugstores.