Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Grows Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 334,030 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 24,427 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,116,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WBA. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 54.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 321,425 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,893,000 after buying an additional 113,242 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.6% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 155,625 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,452,000 after buying an additional 9,663 shares during the period. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 17.6% during the 4th quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 32,026 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 4,782 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $323,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Chairman Stefano Pessina purchased 832,258 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Sunday, April 27th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the purchase, the chairman now directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WBA has been the topic of several recent research reports. Truist Financial cut 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 note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.13 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.32. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $18.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.77.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal 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.