Cibc World Markets Corp Has $2.63 Million Stock Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 15.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 282,286 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 37,141 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $2,634,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 43.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $98,284,000 after buying an additional 3,329,857 shares during the period. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 45.3% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 595,828 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,559,000 after purchasing an additional 185,762 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $3,050,000 after purchasing an additional 64,586 shares in the last quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 82.8% in the third quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 139,377 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 63,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance in the fourth quarter valued at about $326,000. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on WBA. Wolfe Research upgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America boosted their target price 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. Evercore ISI upped their price target on 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $11.12 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $9.81. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $22.05. The company has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.09, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. 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.