Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Increases Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 856,541 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,357 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $24,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WBA. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,192,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,885 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,974,220 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $447,357,000 after purchasing an additional 1,155,331 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 8,702,899 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $300,946,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459,416 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 84,503.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,325,830 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $311,053,000 after buying an additional 8,315,989 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,759,882 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $199,177,000 after buying an additional 129,913 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $26.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $34.00 to $27.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 22nd. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $25.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 11th. TheStreet cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “c-” rating to a “d+” rating in a report on Thursday, September 21st. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.15.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $21.03 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.00 and a 12 month high of $42.29. The stock has a market cap of $18.17 billion, a PE ratio of -5.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 12th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.69 by ($0.02). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.31% and a negative net margin of 2.21%. The business had revenue of $35.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $34.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 12th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 14th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 13th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -53.78%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.