Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 2,279,495 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.10% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $805,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.1% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the fourth 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. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 23,815 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 28,389 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $265,000 after buying an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WBA stock opened at $11.19 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $21.74. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.91. 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 capitalization of $9.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WBA shares. Bank of America raised their price objective 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

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.