Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Down 0.6% on Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s share price fell 0.6% during trading on Friday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $15.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $9.18 and last traded at $9.19. 5,629,194 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 15,731,070 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.25.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on WBA. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.46.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth $332,000. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 25,017 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $653,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 50,733 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,325,000 after buying an additional 16,734 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 115,196 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,008,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 92.0% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 31,488 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 15,084 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a PE ratio of -1.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $11.43 and its 200-day moving average is $16.18.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -14.84%.

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.