Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Position Lifted by Westside Investment Management Inc.

Westside Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,587 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,454 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after buying an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,594,475 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $68,046,000 after acquiring an additional 817,762 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $62,325,000 after acquiring an additional 934,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,200,000 after purchasing an additional 80,525 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on 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 dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped 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, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $9.73 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $9.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.79. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $27.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The firm 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 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 10.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.