M&T Bank Corp Buys 82,352 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 69.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 200,158 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after acquiring an additional 82,352 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,794,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,699 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $335,000 after buying an additional 1,069 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at approximately $125,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 530.2% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 3,403 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,863 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after purchasing an additional 156,484 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 6.8 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $10.39 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $27.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a PE ratio of -1.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.66. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $10.72.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.62%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -9.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered 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. TD Cowen cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, 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 report on Friday, October 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.58.

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.