Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Upgraded at Wolfe Research

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) was upgraded by Wolfe Research to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.63.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $10.82 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.70. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $22.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Financial Corp IN increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Riverview Trust Co raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 123.8% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 2,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,590 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 2,928 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.