Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 8.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 169,979 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 16,411 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,586,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $10.26 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $22.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market cap of $8.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s fifty day moving average is $10.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.71.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $11.54.

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.