King Luther Capital Management Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)

King Luther Capital Management Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA) by 44.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,800 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock after selling 12,050 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Walgreens Boots Alliance were worth $133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. purchased a new position in Walgreens Boots Alliance during the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 162.5% during the second quarter. Iron Horse Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Walgreens Boots Alliance by 87.0% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,324 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 1,081 shares during the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its holdings in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance by 71.2% in the 2nd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 2,453 shares of the pharmacy operator’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.59% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WBA. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $11.00 to $7.50 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance from $19.00 to $9.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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 research report on Friday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on 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. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Walgreens Boots Alliance from $7.50 to $10.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. 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 Stock Performance

Shares of WBA opened at $8.66 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $9.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.51. Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. has a 52-week low of $8.08 and a 52-week high of $27.05. The firm has a market cap of $7.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.87, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) last posted 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. Walgreens Boots Alliance had a negative net margin of 5.85% and a positive return on equity of 14.23%. The firm had revenue of $37.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $35.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Walgreens Boots Alliance Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders 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 11.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Walgreens Boots Alliance’s payout ratio is currently -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.