Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 18.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,505 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,793 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $117,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Swedbank AB grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $5,559,000 after purchasing an additional 185,762 shares during the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,249,000 after buying an additional 63,149 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth approximately $326,000. FMR LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 80,525 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 67.0% during the 3rd quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 210,179 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,903,000 after acquiring an additional 84,303 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WBA opened at $11.19 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $10.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $21.74.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.