Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. 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 company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.73.

Several research firms recently commented on WBA. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $8.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.70. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a twelve month low of $8.46 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.16 and a 200-day moving average of $14.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. The firm had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 11.72%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $541,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 7,494 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $196,000 after buying an additional 1,893 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.4% in the 4th quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 85,154 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,223,000 after buying an additional 35,469 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,816,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 60.0% in the 4th quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 91,488 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,389,000 after buying an additional 34,308 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.