Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Given Average Rating of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the thirteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $10.59.

WBA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial cut their price target on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of WBA. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $385,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $58,241,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 186.3% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,740,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,215,000 after acquiring an additional 5,036,300 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.17 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $22.05. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.