Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock Holdings Decreased by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 10.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,200 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $483,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $378,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,807 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $279,876,000 after buying an additional 1,720,228 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $23,226,000 after buying an additional 846,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 85.1% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,752,170 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $38,968,000 after buying an additional 805,332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 2.1 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $17.65 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $15.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.57, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $17.49 and a 1 year high of $35.36. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.67%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -14.29%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $54,150. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 1st. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $20.00 target price (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Bank of America reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Four research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.36.

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.