Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 129,361 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 38.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 469,612 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 129,361 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $12,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% during the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 29,409 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.2% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,170,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $48,269,000 after acquiring an additional 576,534 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 129,191 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,873,000 after acquiring an additional 28,400 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,444,686 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,130,000 after acquiring an additional 47,071 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after acquiring an additional 10,962,030 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on WBA. SVB Leerink decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 18th. Barclays started coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They issued an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Leerink Partnrs reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Monday, February 26th. TheStreet upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $18.24 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.51 and a 1-year high of $36.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $20.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.93. The company has a market capitalization of $15.74 billion, a PE ratio of -2.61, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan bought 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Valerie B. Jarrett bought 4,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired 13,456 shares of company stock valued at $270,423 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

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.