Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Position Trimmed by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB cut its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 27.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 410,066 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 153,573 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $3,674,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $98,284,000 after acquiring an additional 3,329,857 shares during the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,955,880 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $62,325,000 after purchasing an additional 934,754 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.1% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,718,659 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $32,882,000 after buying an additional 156,484 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,028,000. Finally, Ariel Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Ariel Investments LLC now owns 2,038,878 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $24,660,000 after acquiring an additional 198,891 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA traded up $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $9.06. The company's stock had a trading volume of 13,827,930 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,838,620. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.37. 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 capitalization of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -0.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. 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 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.67 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 11.04%. Walgreens Boots Alliance's payout ratio is currently -9.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.88.

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.