Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Busey Bank

Busey Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 18,773 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,663 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $175,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WBA. Murphy Pohlad Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $413,000. Baron Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 384,320 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,586,000 after acquiring an additional 84,320 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after acquiring an additional 185,762 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. Asset Dedication LLC now owns 18,922 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 9,294 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of 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 equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.27.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.46 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.02 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.87. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $23.76.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion for 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 for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.