Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $13.00 to $12.00. The stock had previously closed at $11.46, but opened at $9.95. Truist Financial currently has a hold rating on the stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance shares last traded at $9.69, with a volume of 17,331,138 shares.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. TD Cowen lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Financial Corp IN grew 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. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 3,208 shares during the period. Finally, Sentry Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.64. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current 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.