GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 253.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,069 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 20,835 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $271,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 3,208 shares in the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 250.0% during the 2nd quarter. Elkhorn Partners Limited Partnership now owns 3,500 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Finally, Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on WBA. 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. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 2.1 %

WBA stock opened at $9.67 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $25.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.93.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.34%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

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.