Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC Buys 13,000 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 72,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Marathon Trading Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 220,703 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,787,000 after acquiring an additional 43,134 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $6,539,000. Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 43,844 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $951,000 after buying an additional 2,874 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 61.5% during the 1st quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 26,902 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $584,000 after buying an additional 10,249 shares during the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 143.0% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 182,983 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,969,000 after buying an additional 107,677 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WBA shares. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of 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. Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $8.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.19 and a 200 day moving average of $11.86. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.22 and a fifty-two week high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

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.