Optimize Financial Inc Purchases Shares of 52,937 Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Optimize Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 52,937 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock, valued at approximately $494,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WBA. First Financial Corp IN raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 885 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Riverview Trust Co boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 123.8% in the fourth quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 2,874 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 1,590 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WBA traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $10.89. 7,857,996 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,928,470. The company has a current ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.10. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $18.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.06, 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. The firm had revenue of $38.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $37.90 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The company's revenue was up 4.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Friday, April 11th. They issued a "hold" rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $10.59.

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.