Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Acquires 3,329,857 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 43.6% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 10,969,188 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,329,857 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $98,284,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WBA. Inlet Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.9% during the second quarter. Inlet Private Wealth LLC now owns 47,820 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $578,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc lifted its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Capital Investment Counsel Inc now owns 15,340 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 65,690 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $795,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 1,063 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WBA shares. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $13.00 to $10.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $7.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $20.00 to $15.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $12.88.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ WBA opened at $8.73 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.39. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a twelve month low of $8.08 and a twelve month high of $27.05. The company has a market capitalization of $7.55 billion, a PE ratio of -0.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.36 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $35.75 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company’s revenue was up 5.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 11.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio is presently -9.99%.

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.