Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $11.04, but opened at $11.70. Walgreens Boots Alliance shares last traded at $11.43, with a volume of 4,180,300 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of 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 report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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 report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.54.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 4.9 %

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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $10.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $9.72. The stock has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth about $2,821,000. Yoffe Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth about $102,000. LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 236.8% in the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 61,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $578,000 after acquiring an additional 43,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WNY Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. WNY Asset Management LLC now owns 161,227 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,451 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.