Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock Price Down 3%

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price dropped 3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $8.59 and last traded at $8.61. Approximately 2,878,919 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average daily volume of 15,977,451 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.88.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WBA shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on 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. Finally, Barclays dropped 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, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $15.19.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

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 firm has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of -1.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 0.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $10.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 21st. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.84%.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $72,826,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992,648 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,028,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth about $29,816,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth approximately $16,365,000. 58.59% of the stock is 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.