Van ECK Associates Corp Has $1.86 Million Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Van ECK Associates Corp cut its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Free Report) by 38.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 199,547 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock after selling 123,437 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,862,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Altrius Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 76.6% during the third quarter. Altrius Capital Management Inc now owns 440,483 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $3,947,000 after acquiring an additional 190,996 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $5,559,000 after acquiring an additional 185,762 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 23.4% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 340,431 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $3,050,000 after acquiring an additional 64,586 shares during the period. Finally, Sasco Capital Inc. CT increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 13.6% during the third quarter. Sasco Capital Inc. CT now owns 1,041,440 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $9,331,000 after acquiring an additional 124,950 shares during the period. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of WBA traded down $0.35 on Friday, hitting $10.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,339,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,023,563. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $10.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.72. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $8.08 and a fifty-two week high of $22.05. 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 has a market capitalization of $8.78 billion, a PE ratio of -0.99, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.65.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The firm had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WBA shares. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Evercore ISI upped their price objective 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. Bank of America upped their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $12.63.

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.