Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI decreased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 29.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 270,760 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 112,456 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,757 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Corp IN increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 12,893 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $120,000 after buying an additional 1,084 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 23,815 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 1,118 shares during the period. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 28,389 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $265,000 after acquiring an additional 1,165 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $10.71 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $19.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $10.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WBA. Bank of America increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

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.