Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $24.36.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WBA shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and issued a $20.00 price target (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. TheStreet raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett purchased 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the acquisition, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 104.6% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 36,922 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 18,879 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 31.1% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 20,791 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $931,000 after purchasing an additional 4,931 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 27.9% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,569 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651 shares during the period. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.5% during the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 63,483 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,842,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.2% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 467,533 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $20,932,000 after purchasing an additional 58,184 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $18.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $20.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 12 month low of $17.51 and a 12 month high of $36.14.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

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.