Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.19 EPS

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The pharmacy operator reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.19, MarketWatch Earnings reports. The company had revenue of $36.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.01 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a net margin of 0.33% and a return on equity of 18.33%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.37 earnings per share.

Shares of WBA traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $46.02. The company had a trading volume of 253,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,145,039. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $40.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.23. The stock has a market cap of $39.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.50, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 0.44. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $33.36 and a 52 week high of $56.80.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 19th were paid a $0.4675 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 18th. This represents a $1.87 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently 39.45%.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Truist upped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $44.00 to $48.00 in a report on Friday. Bank of America reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Finally, TheStreet raised Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and fourteen have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.31.

In related news, CAO Marco Patrick Anthony Pagni sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.55, for a total transaction of $207,750.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 16.91% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc operates as a pharmacy-led health and beauty retail company. It operates through three segments: Retail Pharmacy USA, Retail Pharmacy International, and Pharmaceutical Wholesale. The Retail Pharmacy USA segment sells prescription drugs and an assortment of retail products, including health, wellness, beauty, personal care, consumable, and general merchandise products through its retail drugstores.

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