Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Stake Boosted by Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC

Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 24.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,654 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,253 shares during the quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $186,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth $9,685,000. First Trust Advisors LP bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth $368,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 82,502 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $794,000 after purchasing an additional 25,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 282,286 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,634,000 after purchasing an additional 37,141 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. The trade was a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $11.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $16.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.04 and its 200-day moving average is $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Company 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.