Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 1,560 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Meridian Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 12.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,700 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,560 shares during the period. Meridian Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $96,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WBA. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after acquiring an additional 10,612,373 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992,648 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,028,000. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter worth approximately $16,365,000. Finally, Philip James Wealth Mangement LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter worth approximately $5,252,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. 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 report on Friday, August 30th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $8.48 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.22 and a 1 year high of $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.33 billion, a PE ratio of -0.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.69. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $9.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.