Morgan Stanley Lowers Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target to $21.00

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $22.00 to $21.00 in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the stock. TheStreet raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a d+ rating to a c- rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. SVB Leerink reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a market perform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. HSBC reaffirmed a reduce rating and issued a $20.00 target price (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Leerink Partnrs restated a market perform rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays started coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an underweight rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $25.00.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA opened at $21.69 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 12 month low of $19.68 and a 12 month high of $36.58. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $22.28. The stock has a market cap of $18.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 0.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a net margin of 0.40% and a return on equity of 10.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.16 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.61%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently 151.52%.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett purchased 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett bought 4,456 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Timothy C. Wentworth purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 5th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $24.22 per share, for a total transaction of $242,200.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 585,122 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,171,654.84. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 worth $1,927,656,000 after buying an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.6% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 66,949,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,907,403,000 after buying an additional 3,543,790 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,448,648 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $481,694,000 after buying an additional 4,163,317 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $378,668,000 after buying an additional 3,013,807 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $279,876,000 after buying an additional 1,720,228 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.