Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Trims Stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 32.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,471 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 2,670 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $49,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $62,325,000 after purchasing an additional 934,754 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,882,000 after buying an additional 156,484 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter worth $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $24,660,000 after buying an additional 198,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 3.8 %

WBA opened at $9.06 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $9.14 and a 200 day moving average of $11.36. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $27.05. The firm has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WBA. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on 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. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. TD Cowen reduced their price objective on shares of 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.88.

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.