Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Trims Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lowered its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 46.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 231,954 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 199,943 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,164,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth $24,226,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,455,720 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $41,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,839,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter valued at about $9,685,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on WBA. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America lifted their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.88. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $22.05. 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 company has a market cap of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.