National Bank of Canada FI Sells 112,456 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

National Bank of Canada FI lessened its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 29.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 270,760 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 112,456 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,526,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WBA. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $133,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 35.5% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,275,221 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $11,898,000 after purchasing an additional 334,235 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 204,979 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $1,912,000 after acquiring an additional 11,453 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 56,554 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $528,000 after buying an additional 13,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at $498,000. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on WBA shares. StockNews.com started coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Friday. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded up $0.09 on Friday, reaching $10.78. 12,267,104 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,990,767. The company has a 50 day moving average of $10.75 and a 200 day moving average of $10.07. 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 $18.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.32 billion, a PE ratio of -1.05, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The business had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.20 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.