Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Takes Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 100,000 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $1,210,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pineridge Advisors LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 282.1% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,219 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5,392.5% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,911 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 2,858 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WBA. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $30.00 to $20.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 1st. TD Cowen cut their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $35.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 1st. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $16.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.68. 9,652,045 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,669,872. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $13.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.47. The company has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.58, a PEG ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.65. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $10.62 and a 52-week high of $29.74.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.36%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

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.