Investors Buy Large Volume of Walgreens Boots Alliance Call Options (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 168,529 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 172% compared to the average volume of 61,987 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 18.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,997,580 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock valued at $385,258,000 after purchasing an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $98,284,000 after buying an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 98.8% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 6,021,126 shares of the pharmacy operator's stock worth $72,826,000 after acquiring an additional 2,992,648 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $24,226,000. Finally, Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the second quarter worth $31,028,000. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company's stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

NASDAQ:WBA traded up $2.54 on Friday, hitting $11.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 103,954,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,225,641. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.15 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.64. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $24.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $9.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.89.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.38 by $0.13. 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 $39.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.50%. Walgreens Boots Alliance's payout ratio is -9.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on WBA shares. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 7th. TD Cowen cut their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $12.58.

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.