Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 168,529 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 172% compared to the typical daily volume of 61,987 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI boosted 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 research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, TD Cowen reduced their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $12.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 24.9% during the second quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 379,029 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $4,584,000 after purchasing an additional 75,557 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 59.1% in the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 69,631 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 25,868 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,444.1% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 15,456 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $186,000 after buying an additional 14,455 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter valued at approximately $140,000. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 83.4% in the second quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 87,726 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 39,883 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA traded up $2.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $11.29. 54,657,105 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,117,736. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.92. The company has a market cap of $9.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.13, a PEG ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $24.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. 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 $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.66 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 8.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

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.