Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Down 4.1% After Analyst Downgrade

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBAGet Free Report) shares dropped 4.1% on Wednesday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $19.00 to $9.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance traded as low as $9.26 and last traded at $9.33. Approximately 10,812,812 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 17,231,242 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.73.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on WBA. TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 412.3% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 58,261 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 46,889 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter worth $339,000. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 81.9% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 14,024 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 6,315 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 111,706 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,423,000 after buying an additional 2,974 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Buckley Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Buckley Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,335 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $810,000 after buying an additional 785 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a PE ratio of -1.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $12.91.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBAGet Free Report) 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 negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

(Get Free Report)

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.

Recommended Stories

Receive News & Ratings for Walgreens Boots Alliance Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Walgreens Boots Alliance and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.