Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Up 1.3% After Dividend Announcement

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s share price shot up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The company traded as high as $9.54 and last traded at $9.47. 4,359,324 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 17,247,457 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.35.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 10.80%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on WBA. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on 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. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price objective on 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. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.9 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $9.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $12.88. The firm has a market cap of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.37, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. Analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter worth $101,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter worth $111,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at about $165,000. abrdn plc boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 7.3% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 351,288 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,181,000 after buying an additional 23,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Semanteon Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the third quarter valued at about $278,000. 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.