Commerce Bank Decreases Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Commerce Bank trimmed its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 30.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 57,639 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 25,616 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $516,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.0% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 115,332 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,500,000 after acquiring an additional 13,304 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 101.7% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 88,903 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,977,000 after purchasing an additional 44,826 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.7% in the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,188,354 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,775,000 after buying an additional 8,699 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.9% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 87,253 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,878,000 after buying an additional 19,557 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 81,030 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,758,000 after buying an additional 3,332 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $8.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.39. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -9.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

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.