Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Trading Down 1% – Here’s What Happened

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)’s stock price was down 1% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $10.45 and last traded at $10.68. Approximately 4,681,603 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 17,092,639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.79.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WBA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 11th. 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 data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.93. The stock has a market cap of $8.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,826,000 after acquiring an additional 2,992,648 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter valued at $31,028,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at about $16,365,000. Finally, Minneapolis Portfolio Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter worth about $13,710,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.