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

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 10th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be given a dividend of 0.25 per share by the pharmacy operator on Thursday, September 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.3% annually over the last three years. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a payout ratio of 49.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Walgreens Boots Alliance to earn $2.13 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 46.9%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

WBA opened at $10.85 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $12.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $16.80. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $10.19 and a one year high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and issued a $11.00 price target (down from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.86.

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.