Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Down 4.6% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) were down 4.6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $10.55 and last traded at $10.56. Approximately 8,547,298 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 17,013,254 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.07.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WBA shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $13.38.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $9.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.14. The stock has a market cap of $9.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 412.3% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 58,261 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after acquiring an additional 46,889 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter valued at $837,000. CWM LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 32,397 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138 shares during the last quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.3% in the first quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 102,423 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,222,000 after purchasing an additional 23,211 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 95,069 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 27,506 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.