Wexford Capital LP Makes New $96,000 Investment in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 10,341 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $96,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631,332 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $194,082,000 after buying an additional 1,020,587 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $122,737,000 after buying an additional 2,185,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,896,742 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $83,007,000 after buying an additional 1,407,973 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina purchased 832,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Sunday, April 27th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $11.01 per share, for a total transaction of $9,163,160.58. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chairman now 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. Truist Financial reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.4%

WBA stock opened at $11.25 on Tuesday. 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, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $18.17. The stock 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 0.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $10.38.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share 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.