Xponance Inc. Boosts Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Xponance Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 7.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,283 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 8,740 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 379.4% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 10,499 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 8,309 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter worth about $149,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 23.4% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 340,431 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,050,000 after buying an additional 64,586 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at about $3,448,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $109,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $11.10 on Monday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $22.05. 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 cap of $9.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.08, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.96 and a 200-day moving average of $9.83.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast 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.