KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Buys Shares of 625,189 Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 625,189 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $5,833,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned 0.07% of Walgreens Boots Alliance as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Virtu Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 111.8% during the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 49,094 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 25,920 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth $4,790,000. Semanteon Capital Management LP boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 115.4% during the fourth quarter. Semanteon Capital Management LP now owns 66,776 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $623,000 after purchasing an additional 35,774 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 122,283 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,141,000 after purchasing an additional 8,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,123,668 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $10,484,000 after purchasing an additional 91,551 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.12 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $22.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $10.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.87.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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.