Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) have been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $12.63.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WBA. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on shares of 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 15th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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 note on Monday, January 13th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,335,084 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $805,506,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279,495 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position 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 worth $385,258,000 after acquiring an additional 6,569,223 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 32,572,567 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $303,902,000 after acquiring an additional 2,631,332 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 20,779,254 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $194,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,020,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,155,138 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $122,737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,950 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $10.79 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a PE ratio of -1.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $10.36 and its 200-day moving average is $9.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.64. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 52 week low of $8.08 and a 52 week high of $22.47.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.87% and a positive return on equity of 17.61%. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current year.

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.