Rakuten Securities Inc. Acquires 223,185 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 93.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 463,001 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 223,185 shares during the period. Walgreens Boots Alliance comprises 1.7% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc. owned 0.05% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $4,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its holdings 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 worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the period. First Financial Corp IN lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,084 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 23,815 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Finally, OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 4,562 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WBA shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $11.54.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.6 %

WBA opened at $11.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $9.69 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a fifty day moving average of $10.71 and a 200-day moving average of $9.73. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $22.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

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.