44,199 Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Bought by Atom Investors LP

Atom Investors LP bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 44,199 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $396,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted 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 valued at $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,992,648 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,028,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,594,475 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $68,046,000 after purchasing an additional 817,762 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at about $5,252,000. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $8.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a PE ratio of -0.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.05. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $27.05. 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 (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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.