StockNews.com Begins Coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

WBA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Truist Financial cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.10 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.88. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. The firm has a market cap of $9.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62.

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 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 business had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 379.4% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 10,499 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 8,309 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at $109,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter worth $106,000. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 75.3% in the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 672,104 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $6,022,000 after purchasing an additional 288,657 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

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.