Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Stock Price Down 0.8%

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) traded down 0.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $8.97 and last traded at $8.99. 1,947,555 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 16,043,037 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut their target price 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. Bank of America reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an "underperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price 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. TD Cowen cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $22.00 to $13.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $14.73.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $10.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.89.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released 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). The company had revenue of $36.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.94 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.63% and a negative net margin of 3.99%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 57.5% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 29,061,021 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $630,334,000 after buying an additional 10,612,373 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the second quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $72,826,000 after buying an additional 2,992,648 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth $31,028,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 4th quarter worth about $29,816,000. Finally, Swedbank AB bought a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the first quarter valued at about $16,365,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.