20,850 Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) Acquired by M.E. Allison & CO. Inc.

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 20,850 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock, valued at approximately $195,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Financial Corp IN raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 2,685 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 885 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 8,670.3% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 3,208 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the third quarter worth approximately $30,000. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

WBA stock opened at $12.52 on Tuesday. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 1-year low of $8.08 and a 1-year high of $23.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $10.81 billion, a PE ratio of -1.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 0.64. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $9.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.83.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 10th. The pharmacy operator reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by $0.13. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a positive return on equity of 14.23% and a negative net margin of 5.85%. The company had revenue of $39.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -9.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WBA has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price objective on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $8.50 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Walgreens Boots Alliance currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $13.27.

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.