Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Shares Sold by Romano Brothers AND Company

Romano Brothers AND Company reduced its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 35.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 73,042 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 39,329 shares during the quarter. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 29,409 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $654,000 after acquiring an additional 1,804 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 36.2% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,170,347 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $48,269,000 after purchasing an additional 576,534 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 28.2% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 129,191 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $2,873,000 after purchasing an additional 28,400 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 3.4% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,444,686 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $32,130,000 after purchasing an additional 47,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares during the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Down 1.3 %

Walgreens Boots Alliance stock traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $17.85. The company had a trading volume of 12,537,841 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,648,789. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $20.90 and its 200-day moving average is $22.06. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.70 and a fifty-two week high of $36.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The company had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.16 EPS. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s quarterly revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Director Nancy M. Schlichting sold 15,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $350,567.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Nancy M. Schlichting sold 15,209 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.05, for a total value of $350,567.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan bought 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WBA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Leerink Partnrs reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Monday, February 26th. TD Cowen reduced their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $24.36.

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.