Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading 7.1% Higher – Still a Buy?

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) traded up 7.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $10.76 and last traded at $10.88. 10,011,251 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 26,503,645 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.16.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WBA. Bank of America increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.63.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 6.5 %

The stock has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $805,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,495 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $385,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $194,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,587 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $122,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,950 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.