Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Upgraded to “Hold” at Wolfe Research

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wolfe Research to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of 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. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.63.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Up 6.5 %

Shares of WBA stock opened at $10.82 on Monday. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $10.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.70. The company has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.06, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a one year low of $8.08 and a one year high of $22.05.

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

Institutional Trading of Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 701.3% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 282,619 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,532,000 after acquiring an additional 247,350 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 3rd quarter valued at about $164,000. Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 83.4% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 385,600 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $3,455,000 after purchasing an additional 175,400 shares during the period. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.8% in the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 33,916 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.