Prudential PLC Grows Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Prudential PLC lifted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 34.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,833 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after purchasing an additional 35,553 shares during the period. Prudential PLC's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,295,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $805,506,000 after purchasing an additional 2,279,495 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $385,258,000 after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $194,082,000 after buying an additional 1,020,587 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $122,737,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,950 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at $58,241,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA stock traded up $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $10.78. The stock had a trading volume of 12,267,104 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,024,579. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $18.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.64 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $10.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.08. The firm has a market cap 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 8th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $38.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 4.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WBA. Bank of America raised their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. StockNews.com began coverage on Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Friday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $10.59.

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.