Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $12.52, but opened at $11.72. Walgreens Boots Alliance shares last traded at $11.10, with a volume of 9,135,996 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WBA. Bank of America lifted their target price 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. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Four equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.27.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $9.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.64. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $9.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.84.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.15%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.77%.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amalgamated Bank grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.2% during the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 217,597 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 25,439 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 52,400 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $633,000 after acquiring an additional 8,538 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at about $837,000. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 60.7% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 24,220 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 9,144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.4% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 308,736 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,734,000 after buying an additional 24,041 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

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.