Everence Capital Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Everence Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 27.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 72,610 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,500 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $1,896,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after buying an additional 10,962,030 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 63,406,129 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $2,192,584,000 after acquiring an additional 2,797,885 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $378,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,807 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $279,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,228 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 84,503.5% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,325,830 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $311,053,000 after purchasing an additional 8,315,989 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WBA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. HSBC reiterated a “reduce” rating and set a $20.00 target price (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Monday, April 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Walgreens Boots Alliance has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.36.

Insider Activity at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In related news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423 over the last ninety days. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $17.64 on Wednesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $17.53 and a fifty-two week high of $36.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $15.22 billion, a PE ratio of -2.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.73. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $20.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.02.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 12.11% and a negative net margin of 4.18%. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 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.