Kennondale Capital Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Kennondale Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 112,535 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,050,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at about $24,226,000. Amundi increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,839,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth about $9,685,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on WBA shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.54.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 0.3 %

WBA stock opened at $11.26 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $22.05. The firm has a market cap of $9.73 billion, a PE ratio of -1.10, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. 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.