Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Purchased by OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd

OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 35.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,543 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,807 shares during the quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 26.2% during the first quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 54,933 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,191,000 after purchasing an additional 11,389 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter worth approximately $509,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $223,000. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the first quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 832,035 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $18,047,000 after acquiring an additional 21,723 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 38.0% in the first quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 14,223 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 3,916 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBA has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $9.03 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $7.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.90, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.69. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $12.01. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.22 and a 12-month high of $27.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.07%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

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.