National Bank of Canada FI Lowers Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 383,216 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 131,550 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 12.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 7,594,475 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $68,046,000 after acquiring an additional 817,762 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% in the third quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $62,325,000 after purchasing an additional 934,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,258,919 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $29,200,000 after purchasing an additional 80,525 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 30th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.58.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 6.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA traded up $0.66 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $10.39. 38,948,975 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,339,830. The company's 50 day moving average price is $9.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $10.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.68. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12 month low of $8.08 and a 12 month high of $27.05.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The business had revenue of $37.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.67 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -9.99%.

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.