Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) Reaches New 1-Year Low at $17.24

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) shares hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The stock traded as low as $17.24 and last traded at $17.26, with a volume of 11426019 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $17.81.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WBA shares. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. TD Cowen dropped their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. HSBC reissued a “reduce” rating and set a $20.00 price objective (down from $27.00) on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped 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 report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, SVB Leerink decreased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $23.00 to $22.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 18th. Four 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, Walgreens Boots Alliance has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Down 3.1 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $19.52 and its 200-day moving average is $21.56. The company has a market cap of $14.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.47, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its earnings results 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The firm had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.16 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is -14.29%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $54,150. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Walgreens Boots Alliance

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after acquiring an additional 10,962,030 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 18,448,648 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $481,694,000 after purchasing an additional 4,163,317 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 17,026,420 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $378,668,000 after purchasing an additional 3,013,807 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the third 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, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,816,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

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.