Sound Income Strategies LLC Buys 23,373 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 507,213 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 23,373 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC owned about 0.06% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $4,732,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WBA. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.5% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 52,400 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $633,000 after purchasing an additional 8,538 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 308,736 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,734,000 after buying an additional 24,041 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 76.2% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 24,726 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 10,696 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 60.5% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 140,441 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 52,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% in the second quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $24,660,000 after acquiring an additional 198,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of WBA opened at $11.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $23.76. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.86.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on WBA. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.27.

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.