Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading 12.6% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) were up 12.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $10.87 and last traded at $10.92. Approximately 11,188,442 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 57% from the average daily volume of 26,082,805 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Truist Financial reduced 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 report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.19.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $10.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap of $9.56 billion, a PE ratio of -1.08, a PEG ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the 3rd 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. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,631,332 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $194,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.