Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have earned an average rating of “Reduce” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.59.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. 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 note on Friday, February 28th. Wall Street Zen initiated coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Thursday.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.6%

WBA opened at $11.38 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $11.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.82. The company has a market capitalization of $9.85 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.70, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.78. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $13.25.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 26th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.04. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 16.39% and a negative net margin of 3.80%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Chairman Stefano Pessina bought 832,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Sunday, April 27th. The shares were bought at an average price of $11.01 per share, with a total value of $9,163,160.58. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $9,685,000. First Trust Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at about $368,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Cibc World Markets Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.2% during the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 282,286 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,634,000 after purchasing an additional 37,141 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $143,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.