Atlas Brown Inc. Raises Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Atlas Brown Inc. increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 77.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,240 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,710 shares during the period. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $357,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter worth $35,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on WBA. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 28.6 %

Shares of WBA traded up $2.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $11.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 93,751,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 30,546,744. The business has a fifty day moving average of $9.21 and a 200 day moving average of $9.92. The company has a market cap of $10.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.08 and a 1 year high of $24.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.