Lesa Sroufe & Co Purchases New Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Lesa Sroufe & Co acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 20,378 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $209,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth approximately $331,000. Optas LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at $189,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.1% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 248,672 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,778,000 after purchasing an additional 61,838 shares during the period. Tobam purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $296,000. Finally, Polianta Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $1,219,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the firm’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 transaction, the chairman now owns 145,621,079 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,603,288,079.79. This trade represents a 0.57% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 17.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.40 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $16.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $9.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $11.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.70.

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

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.