Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 15.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 109,683 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 19,508 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 29,409 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.2% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,170,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $48,269,000 after purchasing an additional 576,534 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,444,686 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,130,000 after purchasing an additional 47,071 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 27,369 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $715,000 after buying an additional 1,544 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA opened at $17.35 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.24 and a 1 year high of $32.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.66. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.97 billion, a PE ratio of -2.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.80.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.16 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -14.29%.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at $3,235,859.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WBA shares. SVB Leerink dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.36.

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.