Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target 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. Bank of America raised their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on 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. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price 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 given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $11.17 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $10.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.79. 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 stock has a market cap of $9.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $22.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $385,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter worth about $58,241,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 186.3% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,740,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,036,300 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $303,902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.