FNY Investment Advisers LLC Purchases Shares of 29,638 Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 29,638 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $331,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth $58,241,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 186.3% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,740,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,036,300 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 101.2% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 4,595,507 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $42,876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,311,806 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 worth $805,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were bought 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 directly owns 145,621,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 17.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.39 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $16.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $11.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.69. The firm has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.20 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the subject of several research reports. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.59.

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.