Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 3,539 Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

Foster & Motley Inc. cut its holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 21,552 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 3,539 shares during the period. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $563,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WBA. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 14.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 86,675,198 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $1,927,656,000 after purchasing an additional 10,962,030 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 21.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 15.8% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 12,584,371 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $279,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720,228 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 1,985.1% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 889,546 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $23,226,000 after purchasing an additional 846,884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC boosted its position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 85.1% during the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,752,170 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $38,968,000 after purchasing an additional 805,332 shares in the last quarter. 58.59% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,235,859.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $18.05 per share, with a total value of $54,150.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at $54,150. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Manmohan Mahajan purchased 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $19.38 per share, for a total transaction of $116,280.00. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now owns 166,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,235,859.22. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WBA shares. TheStreet upgraded shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from a “d+” rating to a “c-” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Truist Financial restated a “hold” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a report on Tuesday, March 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.36.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Stock Performance

Shares of WBA stock opened at $18.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.26 and a 200-day moving average of $21.86. The company has a market cap of $15.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.32. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a one year low of $17.51 and a one year high of $35.54.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $37.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.86 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.16 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast 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.