Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.25

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the pharmacy operator on Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has raised its dividend by an average of 1.3% per year over the last three years. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a dividend payout ratio of 31.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Walgreens Boots Alliance to earn $3.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.9%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

WBA stock opened at $17.70 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a PE ratio of -2.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average is $20.01 and its 200-day moving average is $21.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1 year low of $17.49 and a 1 year high of $35.38.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.38. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WBA. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett purchased 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,992.64. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari purchased 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Valerie B. Jarrett acquired 4,456 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $22.44 per share, with a total value of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $99,992.64. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423. Corporate insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

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.