Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Busey Bank

Busey Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,773 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 1,663 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake 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 worth $98,284,000 after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,594,475 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $68,046,000 after buying an additional 817,762 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $62,325,000 after buying an additional 934,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $29,200,000 after buying an additional 80,525 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $11.46 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $23.76. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $10.02 and its 200-day moving average is $9.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of 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. TD Cowen dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.27.

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.