National Bank of Canada FI Sells 131,550 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

National Bank of Canada FI trimmed its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 383,216 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 131,550 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WBA. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew 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 buying an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,226,000. Finally, Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,028,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WBA shares. TD Cowen decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 6.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $10.39 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $9.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $10.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $8.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 0.66.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.67 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.62%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -9.99%.

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.