Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Receives Consensus Rating of "Reduce" from Analysts

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Reduce" from the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $14.73.

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, June 28th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $10.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $17.00 to $12.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 30th.

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 41.3% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 13,050 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 3,816 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at about $313,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 364,734 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $4,411,000 after buying an additional 15,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth $821,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $9.01. 13,891,696 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,109,553. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 12-month low of $8.46 and a 12-month high of $27.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $10.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $14.89. The company has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.34, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.70.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, June 27th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.05). Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 3.99% and a positive return on equity of 12.63%. The business had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $35.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 21st were issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 21st. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 11.10%. Walgreens Boots Alliance's dividend payout ratio is currently -14.84%.

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.