Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Bought by Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 12.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,974,248 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 325,721 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $27,750,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First Financial Corp IN raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% during the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 885 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Riverview Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 123.8% in the 4th quarter. Riverview Trust Co now owns 2,874 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 3,208 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $10.68 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $10.75 and its 200-day moving average is $9.98. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.08 and a 12-month high of $19.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted 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. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.40 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 17.61% and a negative net margin of 5.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $11.00 to $9.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Walgreens Boots Alliance to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $10.59.

Walgreens Boots Alliance 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.