Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Reduces Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 30.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,402 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 8,680 shares during the quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% during 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 worth $68,046,000 after purchasing an additional 817,762 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 934,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,200,000 after purchasing an additional 80,525 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Barclays increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.19.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WBA stock opened at $9.89 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $23.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.