State Street Corp Boosts Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

State Street Corp lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 18.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 4.97% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $385,258,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Inlet Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 47,820 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $578,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.6% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 15,340 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $186,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% in the second quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,020 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.6% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,690 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $795,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $8.85 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.84. The stock has a market cap of $7.65 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.66. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.30%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBA has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on 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 decreased their target price on 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. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.58.

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.