Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 2,000 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lessened its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,710 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $119,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.1% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% in the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Lincluden Management Ltd. now owns 264,644 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,371,000 after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the period. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $120,000 after acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.27.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.9 %

WBA opened at $11.46 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.12, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company’s 50 day moving average is $10.02 and its 200-day moving average is $9.87. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $23.76.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.