Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Price Target Lowered to $9.00 at Morgan Stanley

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) had its target price decreased by Morgan Stanley from $13.00 to $9.00 in a report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an underweight rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Bank of America restated an underperform rating and issued a $11.00 target price (down from $22.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Friday. Raymond James restated a market perform rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $19.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $13.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a report on Friday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.00.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.58 on Friday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $11.48 and a one year high of $31.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.00 billion, a PE ratio of -1.72, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $16.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.14.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced 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). The firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.84%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 1st quarter valued at $411,000. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 73.9% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 110,889 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,405,000 after buying an additional 47,136 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 89.8% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 349,464 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,580,000 after purchasing an additional 165,389 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter worth $16,365,000. Finally, LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter worth $145,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.