Two Sigma Investments LP Grows Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 101.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,595,507 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,311,806 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $42,876,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 41.1% during the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 139,982 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,306,000 after acquiring an additional 40,769 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 133.1% during the fourth quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 114,907 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,072,000 after purchasing an additional 65,609 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.4% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 482,521 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $4,502,000 after purchasing an additional 126,191 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 104,469 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $975,000 after purchasing an additional 2,603 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 706.6% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 190,969 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,782,000 after purchasing an additional 167,292 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina acquired 832,258 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Sunday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.23 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $11.02 and its 200 day moving average is $10.38. The stock has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $17.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.