Wall Street Zen Begins Coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA)

Equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a report issued on Wednesday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on WBA. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 0.5%

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.24 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $16.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.72 billion, a PE ratio of -1.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.40.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.20 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 145,621,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bluefin Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter worth approximately $455,000. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 152,211 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 9,236 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4,739.3% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 2,085,596 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $23,296,000 after purchasing an additional 2,042,499 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 93.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 50,349 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 24,265 shares during the period. Finally, MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter worth approximately $318,000. 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.