Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.25 (NASDAQ:WBA)

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 21st will be paid a dividend of 0.25 per share by the pharmacy operator on Wednesday, June 12th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.65%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 20th.

Walgreens Boots Alliance has increased its dividend by an average of 1.3% per year over the last three years. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a dividend payout ratio of 31.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Walgreens Boots Alliance to earn $3.13 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 31.9%.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock opened at $17.70 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.27 billion, a PE ratio of -2.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.73. Walgreens Boots Alliance has a 1-year low of $17.49 and a 1-year high of $35.38. 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 (NASDAQ:WBA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 28th. The pharmacy operator reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.38. The business had revenue of $37.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.86 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 4.18% and a positive return on equity of 12.11%. The company’s revenue was up 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.16 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Walgreens Boots Alliance will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on WBA shares. UBS Group decreased 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 research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $37.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 research report on Monday, April 1st. Leerink Partnrs restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set an “underweight” rating and a $21.00 price objective on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.36.

Insider Transactions at Walgreens Boots Alliance

In other Walgreens Boots Alliance news, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari bought 3,000 shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $18.05 per share, for a total transaction of $54,150.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,150. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Manmohan Mahajan acquired 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.38 per share, with a total value of $116,280.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 166,969 shares in the company, valued at $3,235,859.22. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Inderpal S. Bhandari acquired 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The stock was bought 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 in the company, valued at $54,150. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 13,456 shares of company stock worth $270,423 in the last three months. Insiders own 17.40% of the company’s stock.

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.