State Street Corp Buys 6,569,223 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 18.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after buying an additional 6,569,223 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 4.97% of Walgreens Boots Alliance worth $385,258,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Czech National Bank raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.3% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 136,450 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $1,650,000 after acquiring an additional 10,510 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 83.9% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 24,256 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 11,064 shares during the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 22.6% during the second quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 29,734 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 5,476 shares during the period. Westside Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 33.7% during the second quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,133 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,553 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.0% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 27,699 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 17.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA traded up $1.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $10.42. 104,602,941 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,881,604. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.15 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.84. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $27.05. The firm has a market cap of $9.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.04, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $35.75 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.60%. Walgreens Boots Alliance's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WBA. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $9.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.58.

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.