Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Grows Position in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 49.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,336 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after buying an additional 1,757 shares during the quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $139,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 246.6% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 194,710 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $5,084,000 after purchasing an additional 138,525 shares during the period. Capital Management Corp VA lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Management Corp VA now owns 416,223 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $10,868,000 after acquiring an additional 194,640 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 19.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 16,843 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares during the period. abrdn plc lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 70.9% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 301,955 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $7,884,000 after acquiring an additional 125,232 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 16,788 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $438,000 after acquiring an additional 3,898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett purchased 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,992.64. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Valerie B. Jarrett acquired 4,456 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $22.44 per share, for a total transaction of $99,992.64. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 4,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $99,992.64. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $18.05 per share, with a total value 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 disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423 over the last three months. 17.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on WBA. SVB Leerink dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on 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. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:WBA opened at $17.81 on Thursday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $17.51 and a 1-year high of $35.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $20.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.84. The company has a market capitalization of $15.36 billion, a PE ratio of -2.54, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.73.

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

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.