Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Stake Lessened by First Horizon Advisors Inc.

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lessened its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 58.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,781 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 15,246 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WBA. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% in the third quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 29,409 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,170,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $48,269,000 after buying an additional 576,534 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.2% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 129,191 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,873,000 after buying an additional 28,400 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.4% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,444,686 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $32,130,000 after buying an additional 47,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after buying an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $17.81 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $19.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $15.36 billion, a PE ratio of -2.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.80. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $17.25 and a one year high of $32.89.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.61%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is -14.29%.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan bought 6,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

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.