Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Given Average Recommendation of “Reduce” by Analysts

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $13.27.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WBA shares. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after buying an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 76.6% during the 3rd quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 440,483 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,947,000 after purchasing an additional 190,996 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 340,431 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $3,050,000 after purchasing an additional 64,586 shares in the last quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% in the third quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT now owns 1,041,440 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $9,331,000 after purchasing an additional 124,950 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% during the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 63,149 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.87 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. The stock has a market cap of $10.26 billion, a PE ratio of -1.16, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day moving average is $9.86 and its 200 day moving average is $9.88. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $23.76.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share 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 positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.59 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.