Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the twelve analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $10.59.

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WBA. Wall Street Zen assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Sunday, April 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 17.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 175,236 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,635,000 after acquiring an additional 25,582 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 20.4% in the fourth quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 14,617 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 2,477 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $184,000. Finally, Orca Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.6%

WBA stock opened at $11.17 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $16.34. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.43.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.