Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Coverage Initiated at StockNews.com

Stock analysts at StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) in a report issued on Tuesday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the pharmacy operator’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $11.16 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $22.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.64 billion, a PE ratio of -1.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $10.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.80. 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 (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $385,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth about $58,241,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 186.3% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 7,740,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $72,215,000 after purchasing an additional 5,036,300 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $303,902,000 after purchasing an additional 2,631,332 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.